Fallen leaf
by Porthos112
Summary: Everyone should be able to figure this is a Naruto/Ranma Xover from the name. Ranma's trying to figure out what to do with his life but can't catch a break in the flow of challengers to actually think about it. The Nanban changes everything.
1. Chapter 1

Fallen Leaf

Chapter 1

Disclaimer:- I own nothing, nada, zip, and I claim the same.

A/N Everyone should be able to figure where this little plot bunny is going just by the name. So I won't spell it out for you. If you think I'm being subtle then you'll just have to wait for the next chapter to find out what's happening. Ranma timeline is about eight months after the failed wedding.

Ranma sighed deeply, he wouldn't say nothing had gone right for him this year, but you can only call every challenger being able to find him no matter where he went or how he tried to hide a coincidence the first thirty or forty times. It just seemed to be his luck that they walked past just as someone mentioned his name, yelled his name or on the odd occasion screamed his name giving away his location to the next nut-job to attack.

Then people like his father wondered why he hadn't developed his own art by now. Everything he had was borrowed from other schools, from the traditional styles right through to the totally weird such as 'Martial arts Tea Ceremony' or its contemporary counterpart where instead of using the utensils the practitioner used teabags as weapons. When he'd told Akane about it she'd laughed her head off. That is until he showed her the armour piercing teabag attack, those things went through stone walls. Thankfully the only one that hit him was a glancing blow that gouged his skin much like a bullet would have.

So, what was the point of sitting up here trying to think? He knew they'd find him. 'Alright, time ta stop pussy footin around,' Ranma didn't even wince at the mention of pussy, as long as he didn't try to say the word cat he was fine.

'Pops is right for once. It's time I developed something of my own. Even Pops created two distinct styles of his own. It's time I made my contribution to the art, no way am I going to let that fat lazy bastard outdo me.' The trouble is that every-time he'd tried to find the peace and quiet he'd been bombarded with rivals, challengers and fiancées or all three in the worst case scenarios.

Four months had passed since he began his mastery quest and he'd made absolutely no progress. He was beginning to wonder why he even bothered, from what he could see this world didn't need his type of martial arts anyway. What need had they of a man who could take on a small modern army and probably come out the other side without more than a scratch? As for the average criminal? Well any martial artist would do for that or they could leave it to the police. The police only really needed help when one of his 'type' came along to challenge him.

'So what good am I?' A hundred years ago? Sure he could see the need. Two hundred years ago? Definitely and without a doubt there was a need for him or someone like him. But here in this modern world he was an anachronism, a man in the wrong time. He floundered with the modern technology surrounding him, barely understanding how things functioned. In a way he longed for the simpler times, times when even if there was strife then at least there was equal peace.

Ranma sighed, 'Like that would ever happen. You were born and you lived the life you had. No point in making wishes since it was a total waste of time.' He sighed again.

"If only……" Ranma stopped, like he'd thought many times before there was no point continuing it was only wishful thinking and a total waste of time and emotional energy. Nothing ever changed by wishing for it, if anything was going to change he'd have to do it himself. Now just like the two previous years he had to figure out just how in the hell he was going to do that. He could make all the plans in the world and it wouldn't mean a thing since the other participants in his life were unlikely to act in accordance with his wishes.

Ranma Saotome was sitting in relative peace for the first time in nearly a week. It'd taken him that long to find somewhere he was sure 'they' couldn't find him. Sure it wouldn't last but a guy could hope couldn't he? He was currently contemplating a rash course of action that he hoped would free him from all the problems in his life, other than killing them or himself that is. The trouble was that his honour always got in the way, he couldn't just leave as that would leave both him and the others dishonoured.

Over the last few months he'd been coming to the conclusion that other peoples honour really wasn't his concern. Sure he should do everything in his power to make sure that he didn't cause someone dishonour, but that was his responsibility. It was where him dishonouring other people hinged on the actions of others like his father, Tendo-san, Happosai and the Amazons. None of them gave a damn about his personal honour, all they could see was what they personally wanted and screw the consequences.

A flash of light from his hands recalled him to the decision he had to make as it reflected off of the precious item he held. It was a chance where before there had been none. It was a small item, a mirror with a gold frame with beautiful bas-relief of tigers and other wild animals. It was a masterpiece that had fallen into his hands by default since no one else had wanted the useless broken artefact. He'd been told the mirror was a relic of the Amazons. They'd held it for thousands of years, until the Grand-master of the Anything Goes style had stolen it from them that is. A magic item of great power, or at least until the Nerima Wrecking Crew had gotten hold of it and managed to smash it. Oh there had been hell to pay for that one but in the end the need of the Amazons to take Ranma back with them had curtailed any further repercussions. They'd abandoned their claim on the then defunct mirror as it's value had lain in its ability to transport a person to a place where their wishes could be granted, not necessarily would but a place where the possibility lay for your wish to come true if you were willing to reach out and grasp it.

Ranma had set about learning as much as he could about magical mirrors, and had learned an interesting fact. The thing that everyone had missed was that the magic didn't lie in the mirror itself but in the frame which was still intact. Gosunkugi in a rare bout of being helpful, that I can neither deny or confirm may have had something to do with the fact that Ranma had dangled him off the Furinkan High School clock tower by his ankle, had explained that glass couldn't hold a magical charge, the gold in the frame on the other hand could hold a massive amount of magic. Then he'd gone on to explain that the mirror was ancient and was probably backed by another metal that was extremely useful in magic. Silver was valuable as in magical terms it would act as a transmitter of whatever spell was placed into it. So Ranma had figured out that the gold anchored the spell to wherever the mirror was and the silver allowed the spell to lock on to wherever the wish needed to take the person making the wish. Simple in explanation but a whole different matter in practice.

So he had saved as much money as he could with Nabiki around and went in search of a replacement, and got a nasty shock. Antique mirrors manufactured with the required amount of silver were rare, extremely rare and as expensive as they were rare. His money wouldn't cover that kind of thing so he'd decided to make his own, silver in and of itself was a rather cheap metal and a small oval sheet of glass was even cheaper. He'd used ki to melt the silver and to heat the glass so it didn't crack. Then he'd removed any impurities from the silver and poured the resultant molten metal over the glass. Six sheets of glass later he'd perfected the technique and slid the completed mirror into the frame with an audible click as the two fused into a whole.

Now here he sat thinking about what he should wish for and if he should make the wish at all. At first nothing had come to mind, after all just wishing to be somewhere else could be detrimental to his health, since space was such a vast place he could end up….Ranma shuddered slightly, it really didn't bear thinking about, except in how to avoid a vague wish that could backfire like that.

The mirror had been complete now for nearly eight months or about five months after the failed wedding and he still hadn't been able to come up with a proper wish. Peace and quiet for him was such a rare thing and anytime he tried to think about something important someone would come along and disrupt his concentration. He could force the time if…Nah, something always came up to disrupt his plans. Just sitting here looking out across the cityscape had him so tense he could hardly call it relaxing. The supposedly unexpected attacks had become more than expected attacks nowadays. Amazons, Musk, Phoenix, deranged martial artists with even more deranged martial arts styles, eventually they'd find him. It was enough to make him wonder if it was actually worth it, breathing was becoming such a chore. Where the only reason he hadn't just given up and slit his belly was that 'Ranma Saotome doesn't lose!'

"Yeah right!" he snorted. He had lost count of the times he'd been beaten in combat since the failed wedding, the thing was…The thing was, and this was why they kept coming to challenge him, the thing was he never gave up. You can't defeat someone who comes back, and back and back until he's made everything you used to defeat him his own. And so the art known as 'Anything Goes' had evolved to become one of the most deadly arts in the history of the world, or at least he liked to think so. Of course Pops claimed that everything that Ranma was, was because he was such a great teacher.

"Yeah right!" So here he sat atop a pole on top of Tokyo Tower, watching the city below as it sparkled with flashing neon signs and street lights, cars flowed in rivers along the distant streets. Even directly below him there was a string of flashing red lights for which he was very thankful since with the good old Saotome luck he'd probably be stuck by a low flying aircraft if he stayed here too long.

Sighing in resignation he pushed the mirror into a small sub-space pocket abandoning the idea. The few times it'd been used before it had distorted the wish made on it and made the person wish to return to their normal life which was strange as it always did that with perfect accuracy. It was like it was a training tool so that people would accept their lot in life. Deciding that he might as well use the time he had left for something constructive Ranma closed his eyes of the distant scene and contemplated his life as it was and how he wished it was. Time slowed down, as did his breathing as he entered deeper and deeper into his trance state.

So deep in fact that he missed the slight thrum in the pole he was perched atop of. It wasn't the first time the wind had caused the pole to vibrate. This time was different as the pole tipped outwards, the time it took Ranma to come back to himself and figure out that he was in danger it was too late, the post was perpendicular to the ground and there was no way to arrest his fall. The moonlight gleamed off a pair of glasses as he came level with the place that his perch had been severed, a long sword glistened as Mu Tse saluted him.

"Get out of that one Ranma Saotome! My vengeance is complete, no one can survive a fall from this height, not even you!" He gloated, "Now Xian Pu will see me for the man I am, MuWhahahahahah!" Mu Tse missed the approach of Ranma's reply as the Mouko Takabisha struck him in the chest crushing the plastic bottles of water strapped to his body and instantly transforming him into a duck wrapped in an extremely heavy robe that happened to fly off the far side of the tower. The glasses wearing duck watched in satisfaction as he pulled the emergency blades from their subspace pockets and sliced the sleeves of his robe to release his cursed form. The robes fell away from him even as he opened his wings and soared off with a quackle (1) of evil victorious laughter.

The descending Ranma on the other hand realized he'd just served to throw himself further from the tower and from any chance that he could use it to slow himself down. If he'd taken note of his physics lessons at school he'd know that he had less than eight seconds to figure out someway to escape this. The same set of reflexes that he used in battle came online and his descent seemed to slow to a snails crawl, and not the soon to be nearly three hundred kilometres an hour plunge into the concrete jungle far below. Extrapolating that his Mouko Takabisha had done he started drawing ki so that he could fire it downwards. He quickly discarded that plan when he noticed the sheer number of ki signatures below. To save him self he stood a real chance of killing hundreds of innocent people. The next thought that crossed his mind was to aim for the nearest body of water, or in this case the only body of water. From up here it appeared to be a shallow fountain that wouldn't break his fall in any other way than terminally. By now heading back to the tower was just as dangerous as falling into the ground below, since if he struck steel while travelling this fast it'd still do a great deal of damage even if it didn't kill him outright.

"Oooooooooooooooooh! Shiiiiiiiiiiiiit!" he screamed taking up a whole two seconds of thinking time. Deciding that cursing fate, his family, and anyone else's family he'd come into contact with recently wasn't going to do any good he stopped. His mind seemed to clear and he pulled the Nanban mirror from its hiding place. He had one chance to get this right.

"I wish to be somewhere all of my needs and wants can be satisfied, while doing some good for the world around me." Nothing seemed to happen for a moment as he continued to fall. That was when he remembered that a tear needed to fall on the glass and began swearing again in the recesses of his mind along with, 'I'm gonna die!' over and over again. Using his vast experience in aerial tumbling he turned his body so that he'd strike the ground back first, just because he was gonna die didn't mean he wanted to see it

If he could have said 'instruction manual' in ancient Mesopotamian he might have realized that it wasn't the tear that was necessary but the emotional ki contained within the tear that was important. Another thing he might have discovered was that any kind of ki would have done since it wasn't the emotion but the quantity that was important. In fact the ki he'd gathered for his Mouko Takabisha drained out of him and into the frame of the mirror so quickly that he almost blacked out even as the mirror began to glow like a new born star that happened to be falling to earth. The glow became so intense that Ranma had to close and shield his eyes

At three hundred and twenty seven metres the ground below him seemed to swirl, at three hundred and twenty seven and a half metres his pig-tail, (which had grown over the last year), brushed the ground for the briefest milli second only to disappear into an inky void. A moment later the mirror was dull and Ranma was ascending again, this time into a clear blue sky with a sun hanging just above the horizon, was it morning or evening where ever this place was? He had no idea, what he knew was that his problems weren't over as he sailed ever higher.

(1) a 'quackle' is an evil laugh perpetrated by a duck, equivalent to the evil 'cackle' of a mad scientist or evil henchmen.

A/N all reviews are welcome, trust me on this. I need input on this much more than I needed it on anything else I've written. I'm not sure where this is going, so I'm open to suggestions. Ranma appears during the Kyuubi attack, that's all I'll say at this point.


	2. Chapter 2

Fallen leaf

Chapter 2

Disclaimier:- I've got just one thing to say, "It's better to burn, than to fade away!" Oh, and I don't own Highlander either(Not a crossover with Highlander or a Queen song)

A/N The timeline should be apparent to anyone who's read Naruto. The information I've used is directly from Wiki, if I didn't already know it from reading vols 1-15. That means that most of this is from Wiki. Kakashi is thirteen or fourteen and a Jonin, Hiashi is thirty two, Sarutobi is fifty four and The fourth is probably twenty seven. Naruto isn't quite a year old, so won't play a major part in this chapter.

/ Command tent outside Konoha \

Minato Namikaze the fourth Hokage of Konoha looked up as someone burst into the command tent. Noting his long-time friend, he turned away to check the latest intelligence his orderly was placing on the tactical map. He gave a slight wince when he noted that the news couldn't have been good, a genin team seemed to be the latest casualties, one for ICU, one for triage while the last member of the team was in the morgue. Damn that fox, they were only just starting to recover from the last war and now they were here wasting the next generation of ninja against something that the combined strength of the village couldn't hope to defeat.

"Oi Minato!"

"What? Can it wait Hiashi? I'm a little busy at the moment." He turned away and murmured some quiet instructions to another orderly and watched as a couple of messngers dashed out to the battlefield. If he could manoeuvre the Kyuubi just a little more he'd be able to save his precious people. His village, and their way of life hung in the balance and he couldn't afford the slightest miscalculation in the execution of his plan.

"No, it can't damn well wait. What's this I hear about some idiotic plan to seal Kyuubi inside your son?"

"Oh so you heard about that?"

"Oh so you heard about that!" Hiashi mimicked sarcastically, "Of course I heard about it. Most idiotic thing you've thought up in…a couple of days." The furious expression on his face showed just how concerned he was about this. He'd always attempted to curb the impulses of the man before him but this time….

"Ouch, where's the love Hiashi, where's the love? I thought we were friends." Minato looked at the older man with a slight smirk on his face.

"We are, and that's why I'm going to talk you out of doing anything stupid." He crossed his arms over his chest as he leant over the strategic map and glared at the military leader of Konohagakure.

"I'm sorry but there's nothing you can say that'll change my mind. Kyuubi isn't going to wait forever for me to come up with some brilliant plan to defeat it, 'and' stay alive. This is the only plan I've thought of that has an even chance of succeeding…." He glanced at the scroll he'd placed on the table earlier, set to one word and a short series of hand-signs it would activate the seal on whatever suitable target was closest. Since his life was forfeit upon the appearance of the Death God the only other person capable of sustaining the seal would be his eight month old son, and that would be an instinctual control rather than conscious. It was a steep price for his family to pay but at least his son would live to continue the blood line.

"Then let someone else do it," the middle aged man cut in.

"I can't do that. It's going to take everything I have to make this work and that's with my kekkai genkai. Anyone else wouldn't even get a tenth of the way through the seals before it drained them dry."

"Alright, I suppose I can see that. But use a different child, for the Kami's sake. If this goes wrong your blood limit will be lost to the village forever." Hiashi was frustrated; surely Minato could see the loss would be insurmountable?

"I can't, I wish…damn it, I wish there was another way. There isn't though, I've looked at this from every angle. Once the seals in place, the only child who can provide the needed chakra to maintain the seal is my son…For the exact same reason I'm the only person who can create the seal." Hiashi Hyuga's head and shoulders slumped in defeat as he listened to his friend pronounce his own death, and probably that of his son as well.

"You'll leave the village leaderless." It was a last ditch attempt to guilt his friend into figuring out another way to do the impossible and they both knew it.

"Better to lose a leader than to watch as the village is destroyed, and it's not like you couldn't lead the village. How about it Hiashi, do you fancy being the fifth Hokage?" The blondes blue eyes sparkled with barely suppressed humour even as his face remained cast in stone.

"I didn't want to be the fourth. What makes you think I'd take it on now?" Hiashi Hyuga snorted at the stupid question he'd just been asked.

"Well there's always Sarutobi," Minato paused speculatively.

"I'd still rather you didn't do this, but if you've got to I suppose the village could do worse than The Professor."

"I don't have a choice, if I don't, well the village is dead either way. Either Kyuubi destroys it, or one of our enemies will. If I don't do this my life is probably forfeit anyway. You know I won't stand back and watch my Ninja get torn apart without attacking it myself," he watched the slight nod as Hiashi acknowledged the truth of his leaders words, "So as far as I'm concerned you may classify it as the last wish of the Hokage that either you or Sarutobi take the reigns of power. Besides, the council will respond better to Sarutobi than anyone other than yourself, since they've been dealing with him for more than a decade."

"There's not much of a choice when you say it like that." Hiashi's eyes widened as he whirled around at the sound of a massive explosion, the tent they were in fluttered and thrummed like it was in a gale force wind moments after the first explosion. "Damn! Now what?" he started to turn back only to witness a yellow blur that passed him, the tent flap lifted and the Fourth was outside witnessing the results of the massive explosion. Their command centre had been positioned in the clearing surrounding the village so that they had a clear view of the battlefront and the village. As the men cleared the tent they could see the form of Kyuubi as it breached the flame lit billowing black clouds of smoke left by whatever that attack was. The speed it approached told them that whatever resistance their forces had been putting up had effectively dissolved.

"Hiashi! Scroll, now!"

"But…"

"There is no time!" He never noticed Hiashi dash inside to do his bidding as he was too busy watching the approach of the feral creature from the depths of their nightmares. It stood over a hundred metres in height, topping the trees by a large margin. His main focus though was on its blood red eyes, the evil they contained caused the powerful man to shudder in reaction before he even took note of the myriad sharp teeth in its open maw. 'I'm going to seal that in my son?'

For the merest second doubt assailed him, but then stern necessity came to the fore and he realised there were no other choices on the table. Well other than to die in the path of this juggernaut of destruction. The earth shook as each paw struck the loamy forest floor causing Minato to shift his weight automatically to stay on his feet.

Hiashi returned mere moments after he'd left and slapped the heavy scroll into his leaders hand, then stood back to watch what would be his friends final act as Hokage of the Hidden leaf.

Minato barely acknowledged the arrival of his friend other than to rip the scroll from his unresisting hands. In a single motion he sliced his finger on the edge of one of his kunai then smearing the resulting blood over the scroll he placed his thumbprint over it and sighed in relief as a puff of smoke was released from the edges of the parchment. Gripping the now exposed end of the scroll he threw it upwards allowing it to unroll in one smooth motion releasing it to float downwards as it would. He was too busy by this time with seven hand seals that were required to activate the seal on the document followed by his sons name. He let out the breath he'd been holding as the centre of the seal was incinerated by a bright blue flame that quickly spread to the edges of the paper. Smiling in satisfaction he watched as the culmination of his life's work turned to a fine grey ash before him, and drifted away on an errant breeze, it seemed that his request had been granted. He'd never know how much change he'd brought to Konoha with this one action.

/ Ranma \

'So, this is it huh? Human pancake….Kami….' Ranma felt his body clench as he prepared for the impact that would end his life. The Nanban mirror had glowed like it never had before, but other than that it didn't seem to do anything, 'Piece of junk!' Closing his eyes he held the image of the night sky in his mind as clearly as if they were still open, the stars, the fine sliver of the moon. An occasional cloud lit from below by the lights of one of the largest cities on the planet. He'd always loved the night sky, it put everything into perspective when he was having a trying day. He hoped that wherever he went after this world there'd be a sky like this that he could gaze upon.

Ranma paused for a second in his thoughts, 'Surely I should have hit the ground by now?' Opening his eyes in surprise he noted almost instantly that the world was falling away from him, a very different world than the one he'd been in before. Below him was a verdant forest for as far as his peripheral vision could see. Off to his left a small mountain and for a moment he wondered about the faces carved into the rock-face. 'Wonder what their story is? Hold on a second! Those are….there must be people around here.' That was when he caught sight of a village nestled beneath the red rock of the mountain, it was a small village in comparison to Nerima. 'So I'm still alive! Suck on that destiny! So what's changed?' he took in his current situation, 'Well at some point I guess I'm still gonna hit the ground. Unless I do something that is.'

He was at about two hundred metres when he came to a decision and flipped himself so that he was facing the clear blue sky above. "Mouko Takabisha: revised!!" What left his hands wasn't the usual ball of ki but a shaft of energy that pushed against as much air as he could make it. He rose another fifty metres but could feel the speed of his ascent decreasing rapidly. The attack he'd used faltered as he heard a loud roar off in the distance.

Glancing around frantically he saw forest, and more forest and a fox, 'Correct that! Huge Fox!' It towered over the trees, 'Gotta be at least thirty stories tall!' He watched in amazement as the beast dove out of the way of something that resembled a lightning strike aimed at the heavens. As it turned to face its attacker its massive talons dug trenches in the forest loam, shredding trees and sending debris in all directions. Then it retaliated at whatever was responsible for the lightning. A blast of wind roared past it and flattened a swath of trees. It followed this with a couple of fireballs that dropped into the spreading arc of destruction, briefly illuminating its head in demonic light.

'Ah shit! I musta died and not realized it.' He puzzled over that for a moment, surely he would have felt something? 'Gotta be in some afterlife though, no Kitsune I ever heard of was that big, not even in legend.'

The fox didn't bother to wait for the smoke and flames to clear, it just dove through and headed towards the village he'd noted earlier. Which drew another conclusion, the fox must be a demon and it was attacking the peaceful people of the village. He'd never know how far from the truth he was.

He didn't know how desperate things were but figured he could help, 'Damn its happening too fast, an' I'm starting to fall already.' Another quick decision had him facing the ground using the same technique he'd used to slow down. Now he needed the time in the air to figure out what the hell to do to help. The shaft of ki slammed into the ground six seconds before he would have and sent him straight up faster than he'd been travelling before. A slight miscalculation had him hit four hundred metres before he was able to stop sending energy. He'd figure out how to get out of this later, for the moment he had a fox to stop.

The Kitsune was almost two thirds of the way to the village by the time he figured out what was going on. It had passed underneath him and was a couple of hundred metres beyond when he felt a sense of dread descend upon him. So intense that he shuddered in reaction, 'No villager could put that much killing intent into something like that,' he thought. The sense of dread intensified as he noted a cloud of inky blackness appear before the fox demon, it rapidly resolved into another demonic figure, this one looked like something from one of those Noh plays, all long robes and even longer hair. Almost as tall as the fox the man shaped demon stood with a blade in its mouth, 'Don't know what the hell that thing is but I ain't ever felt killing intent like that before. Not even the Kitsune can match it!'

The Kitsune didn't bother to slow down as it ploughed into the ominous looking demon. Forcing it back towards the village it seemed to be defending. The damage the two were causing to the landscape would take years to heal, as they tore down and through the trees around their feet. The warrior of death, or whatever it was had brought its arms to bear and was holding the snapping jaws of the fox away from itself even as it was pushed back into the clearing around the village.

That was when Ranma hastily decided on a course of action, 'I ain't gonna be able to hurt something that big, but I reckon I can distract it for long enough that the other one can put it on the defensive.' Putting action to the thought, he gathered as much ki as he felt he could get away with. Forming the ki ball in mid-air had other benefits as well, he didn't have to worry about the ki contacting with the ground and exploding in his face. It reached nearly three metres across before he released it at his target. If he hit what he aimed at it should unbalance the fox and give the villagers the time to form a defensive line, or something else, he wasn't sure what they were capable of but they did seem to summon the second demon. The other monster was potent so maybe it would be able to defeat the fox. Either way it'd be over soon, he didn't really have the energy to effect a proper landing now so he hoped his action had been worth his life.

He watched as his attack sailed in on the unaware pair of monsters, right on target. When it hit the fox just above the tail it should cause the beasts rear legs to buckle at least. Smiling he began his final descent, there was no going back now, a fall from his height would definitely kill him and he had no way to stop it. The only thing that could save him was divine intervention, 'Yeah, like that'd ever happen,' he thought sardonically of himself.

The Kitsune realized that it was slowing down; the creature it faced had grown in size and was beginning to hold its own. Of course Kyuubi recognised it for what it was, 'The Death God', but it wasn't particularly awed by its presence. Not that it could fight the compulsion to attack even if it was. The only thing that could stop this attack would be to seal it within a vessel or to kill it outright. Not wanting either option to come to pass it dug in deeper, pushing harder.

Ranma blinked as the fox pushed the warrior back again, if it pushed much further the fox would dodge his blast altogether. Its tails whipped around in agitation as it fought for better traction but once again found itself held. His Mouko Takabisha sailed on looking like it would strike one of the tails but by some miracle missed as it penetrated a gap. An instant later an explosion happened somewhere out of his sight followed very quickly by a bellowing yelp of pain. He watched in fascination as the foxes rear legs literally folded and the tails moved to cover its posterior. Smirking Ranma watched as the fox was pushed back faster and faster, everything seemed to be happening at once as the white garbed warrior released the hold of one of its hands. Clenching the knife in its now free hand it drove the wicked looking blade deep into the foxe's chest.

'Oh crap!' he was dropping right into the path of the oncoming juggernauts of destruction.

The blade plunged home and great globs of blood sprayed from the wound. It took a moment to notice that they evaporated before striking the ground. That gave Ranma the clue that he was seeing condensed ki. Closer the battling pair came and just as he was about to land on the fox he saw dark runes surge down the warrior's arms and down to the hand that had sunk the blade into the Kitsune's chest. The beast let out a high pitched shriek just as he connected and then it vanished in a massive expanding ball of red ki.

/ Konohagakure \

Hiashi watched in stunned disbelief as the Kyuubi pushed the Death God back into the clearing they occupied. The body of the Fourth rested in his arms as he squatted before the command tent

"It's not working!" he yelled out to his subordinates, "Get the ANBU teams in there now!"

"Hold off!"

"Sarutobi! We've got to do something."

"Nothing we can do will change the outcome. Secure the perimeter of the village and begin the cleanup."

"But…"

"Kyuubi is almost finished, just a few moments more." His gaze never wavered from the sight of the battle before him.

"Finished, how can you say that? It's almost beaten one of the Higher Pantheon!"

"Then I'd suggest you take another look. It has almost broken the Fox Demon's momentum." Hiashi turned to see what the Third was talking about when he saw a flash of light followed by a sonic boom and yelp of pain.

"What the hell was that?"

"Maybe Kakashi is out there still battling? The flash looked like Raikiri (1) to me."

Hiashi shook his head as he watched the Kyuubi get pushed back now that its rear legs had collapsed, "I…."

"It wasn't me sir." Sarutobi whirled around to view the young boy he'd just spoken of, gasping as he took in the sight of the shinobi. His platinum spiky hair was even more dishevelled than normal, matted with his blood and debris as it was. His left arm hung limply at his side and he was limping slightly. "Don't think it was anyone of ours, we didn't leave any of the injured behind and the dead don't use jutsu."

"Right, then we need information. If there's a new player out there we need to know. Hiashi, take Kakashi and reconnoitre for enemy troops. I want to know what happened, and I want to know now." They all paused and turned to watch the massive detonation of chakra as the blood red cloud spread out. Off in the distance several acres of trees were flattened causing them to exchange shocked glances. "You have your orders now go."

"Yes Hokage! Erm…maybe I should go alone? Kakashi has taken too much damage to be effective." Sarutobi stared at the man in surprise as he was addressed with a title he'd given up four years before.

"I take your point. Kakashi, return to the medic station," he paused to give him several instructions about troop disposition, "Once you've issued those orders you are to hand yourself over to the medic-nin's and do what they tell you." The youth gave a pained bow and vanished in a cloud of leaves. The Hokage turned to gaze at the body of his successor or predecessor depending how he looked at it. Now that he had a few moments he allowed himself to grieve for Konoha's loss.

The man was a true genius, a powerful protector and skilled administrator. He'd be sorely missed, especially by Sarutobi who saw his free time going up in smoke. A shift in the light caused the old man to turn around, hands on his weapons as he looked up…and up into the pitiless depths of the Death God's eyes, 'Nothing that big should move that quietly, or quickly!' he thought startled at just how close it was. Off in the distance the sound of thunder announced the approach of an unanticipated summer storm.

It took everything Sarutobi had learned about control over his long life to keep from running away, the feeling of dread embedded in his chest was so overpowering. A second or two later he broke eye contact enough that he noted the blade it carried being lowered to the ground, and the body that rested on the flat surface. The figure appeared to be a young male in the region of fifteen to eighteen years of age, the black hair showed that it couldn't possibly be Minato's son, not unless there was a strange transformation due to the Fox Demons chakra. That didn't seem likely though, which begged several questions.

"Hiashi, do you recognise this person?"

"No Hokage, I've never seen him before." The clan leader smirked as the Hokage winced. Hiashi was thinking that if enough people took up calling him Hokage now, then eventually no one would question that he was in fact the Hokage. It would be a good thing for the village since he'd dealt with the council when he was in power before. A new Hokage would have to prove themselves, and the village didn't have the time for that in the perilous situation they were in.

"Then, I require information. I want to know who he is, where he came from, when and how." The blade that Ranma rested on was tipped and his body slid to the ground where he rolled onto his back exposing the seal around his navel for the first time. It also showed that his face sported three whiskers on either cheek. "It seems that Fourth's sealing technique worked. Just to make sure we need to get a seal master in here to check it. Make arrangements to have this person moved to a secure location while we wait for him to wake up."

/ an hour later – Hokage's office \

Seated at the large desk in the Hokage's office Sarutobi appeared to be going over the casualty and damage reports. Outside the windows the low dark clouds scudded across the bleak landscape dropping a cold penetrating rain that had quenched the fires left by Kyuubi. It also hindered the search and rescue efforts, but one of the foundations of Konoha was that no Ninja was left behind, be they alive, injured or dead.

What he was really doing was going over the scene that kept playing in his mind, the one which was responsible for the twists of tissue in his nose and the slight smile on his face.

/ flashback \

Sarutobi looked up into the sky as the first raindrops began to fall. Smiling at the thought that this would stop further damage caused by forest fires. That is until his subordinate gasped. He whirled around searching the clearing for the source of an attack, he finally turned a puzzled expression to Hiashi who was looking at their unknown interloper.

When he looked down it took a moment to register the changes, the hair, the voluptuous young body with pert breasts and……

"Medic!!" Hiashi yelled as blood erupted from the Hokage. "Medic!! Don't you die on me old man, I'm not ready to be Hokage." He whispered as his gaze switched between the two prone figures on the ground. It took a moment but comprehension struck, 'Pervert!'

/ end flashback \

Sarutobi added another question to the growing list he'd compiled to ask the girl when she woke up. If she woke up.

'Just who is this girl and why was she concealing herself with a henge to make her appear a man?'

Author's notes:- This looks like a good place to end the story for now. I've tried to answer all of the questions anyone may ask, but I'm sure I've missed plenty. As for the last section after the flashback, well Sarutobi's conclusion that Ranma was using a henge to appear as a man is reasonable from a ninja's perspective.

(1) Raikiri:- Literally means, Lightning blade. It's an advanced and thus more powerful form of Chidori. It's a form that only Kakashi is capable of using, or has bothered to learn according to Wiki.


	3. Chapter 3

Fallen Leaf

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Lawyers beware the rabid Kyuubi.

Reviews (a poem)

Sometimes I pound keys night and day,

Other-times I pause to work or play,

But when I finally release what I wrote,

Sometimes it's nice to receive a thank-you note.

(Or criticism, flames, it's all grist for the mill.)

/ Story \

/ Begin \

Sarutobi the Third Hokage of Konoha looked down on the prone body of the girl, for she couldn't be much older than sixteen, who'd quite possibly in conjunction with the Fourth saved the village from certain destruction. The people might have been safe in the shelters that had been constructed during the First Ninja Wars but they would have had a long road to recover the prosperity they'd come to know as members of one of the five great villages.

As it was it'd take at least three months to rebuild the outlying farms and another six to eight before there was anything harvestable. Trade for food would become paramount to the survival of his people in the coming months. Not that the people of Konoha hadn't always been interested in peace and trade with their neighbours than they were in conquering them unlike some villages.

It had been nearly four days since the Demon Fox had been sealed and still there'd been no sign of movement from the diminutive red-head. She hadn't so much as twitched according to the nurses reports. So the questions that were burning in his mind continued to do so.

Even the excellent intelligence service of the Leaf ninja hadn't been able to find anything out about the mysterious girl. Jiraiya's Bingo Book of Babes hadn't even hinted at the existence of a girl like this and if anyone would notice a young girl on the cusp of beautiful womanhood it would be the 'Super Pervert' as he liked to be known. 'Hmmm, maybe I should ask for an update on all his Bingo books,' he thought as he pondered a disturbing trend in the Toad Sennin recently. That development had been called 'Kiss Kiss Paradise' or some such foolish name.

Sarutobi blinked as a movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention, he'd been turning around to pace in the other direction when the young woman curled up into a tight ball with her face scrunched up in pain.

"Nurse!" he yelled for someone to come and figure out why she seemed to be in pain. Maybe there was some form of internal struggle going on? If there was it was soon won and her body relaxed slightly.

/ \

Ranma discovered two things upon waking. The first was that he didn't particularly like the feel of cold wet stone pressed along the length of his body, especially since it seemed to be a natural rock formation and as such was extremely rough in places. The second was that the human lungs are not designed with the intake of cold brackish water in mind. Forcing his body up off of the cold stone he dispelled a mouthful of water and spent a couple of minutes coughing to try and gain control of his breathing.

The third thing he discovered shortly after that was that he couldn't see shit, in fact he wasn't sure his eyes were even open it was that dark. Poking yourself in said eye while checking to see just how dark it is isn't a good idea either since he hadn't been able to see the waving appendage when it got too close.

he hadn't been able to judge how close it was since his body felt strange like everything was at several removes from his perceptions. Of course nothing about his life in recent times could be classified as normal. The dark proved to be impenetrable to his 'sight' as well, anything could be hiding out there in the inky darkness and it was making him uneasy.

"Damn! I wish I could see!" The words seemed to echo off of something in the distance just before his gasp did the same. The onset of light had been so sudden that he winced even at this low intensity. Squinting into the distance he couldn't discern any distinguishing marks that would tell him where he was. He couldn't even see a far wall to this 'rock' cavern, the floor and ceiling just seemed to merge at some indeterminate point in the distance. Turning three hundred and sixty degrees the same featureless stone met his gaze.

"Where the hell am I?" the 'I' echoes again and again. Time passed and nothing changed, or at least he thought time passed but since there was no real way to tell he couldn't even begin to tell how much. He'd given up counting his heartbeat at seven thousand three hundred and fifteen beats, but that was because it really didn't seem to be serving any purpose and not because he'd lost count so many times that his final number was only a guestimate at best. Counting seconds had been equally futile for the same reason but he'd learned his mistake and sought a rock to scratch the minutes into the stone floor, surprising himself he actually found one after a couple of seconds and merrily began marking the ground each minute. He gave up when he had about a football pitches worth of marks and realized that he'd still have to count them. The rock left his hand in a low arc and promptly vanished leaving Ranma blinking in surprise as he'd actually wanted to hear the rock land. Then the rock reappeared and struck the ground with a satisfying clatter leaving him to blink some more.

Ranma wasn't nearly as stupid as people had always painted him, in fact he tended to notice things much faster than others. He didn't always know what it meant but he did notice, so when things kept appearing when he either physically or mentally asked for them it was bound to twig his curiosity. He wasn't sure if things appearing as he needed them was cool or creepy yet but decided to test the limits. Soon there were all kinds of things from food to aircraft around him, leading him to discover that anything he'd seen in his life he could recreate. The limit was that anything that he hadn't seen or understood about the things he created never materialized. So while there was an outwardly complete jet fighter in front of him there was nothing inside when he pulled off an external panel. Food on the other hand was great, he had vast experience with food thanks to his father and all the fiancées he'd had. Looking at the detritus of his imagination he decided he'd like it to be gone and watched in satisfaction as it did just that.

Not sure what to do with this newly discovered ability he looked around at the unchanging vista and trudged away. With no real destination there was no call for speed, he'd get somewhere eventually, surely? The silence was becoming all pervasive as he walked on and on, he could have been walking in circles for all he knew, 'I wish there was someone to talk to,' he thought in desperation for anything to break the monotony.

"About bloody time!"

Ranma whirled at the unexpected sound not knowing what to expect other than that a female had just yelled at him. So violence was a definite possibility in his vast experience. The woman was quite a distance away and seemed to be clothed in shadow. Strangely enough he could see her features and her hair quite clearly. Her piercing yellow eyes glared at him, her nose was straight and seemed to be upturned at the end, as she came closer he noted a sprinkling of freckles across it and her cheeks which were sleek and smooth. The eyes appeared to contain an animalistic wildness in their depths. Her mouth was wide with sultry lips and Ranma swallowed hard. It took a moment to notice that she was frowning as he was focused on the two tiny dents in her lower lip and wondered what caused them and also what the tasted like……It took slightly longer to pull his mental faculties together and figure out what caused her frustration. It seemed that she was walking towards him but wasn't actually getting any closer, he swallowed even harder since angry women had never been particularly good for his health.

"Just who in the hell are you? While we're at it where in hell are we?" Ranma asked as he allowed her to approach.

"You're so close on both counts kit." The woman answered.

"Huh? Come on lady, it was a simple question."

"Now I'm hurt. You don't recognise me?" The woman shook her head in feigned sadness bringing her hair to his attention, it was unlike any hair he'd ever seen before and several shades darker than his female forms, a deep rusty red that flowed in luxurious waves down over her shoulder and finally brushed the backs of her knees, from just above each temple a thick streak of pale blond hair could be seen before it too disappeared down her back.

"Nope, I think I'd remember meeting someone like you before." His brow furrowed in confusion for a moment before she stepped out of the shadows she'd been in and captivated his attention with sight of her voluptuous body as she carefully placed one foot in front of the other causing her whole body to seem to undulate. Rama's brain took a moment to reboot as he finally got over the shock that she was naked and seemed to combine all the good points he'd ever noted about any of his fiancées. She paused in her approach to allow him to ogle her as his eyes skimmed over her pale skin, the full swell of her hips and pert breasts, down to the juncture of her thighs where he discovered that her hair colour was natural and on to her shapely legs.

The woman for her part had seen this kind of look directed at her only a few times in her extremely long life and was beginning to react to his naked desire. Actually that was a pretty apt description being as he was as naked as she was. If she didn't have a bone to pick with him she'd take him up on his open invitation, even if he didn't seem to know that he was giving her one.

"Still don't know who I am?" She asked in a voice that caused a shiver to run down and then back up Ranma's spine.

"Uh-unh." He shook his head in denial and swallowed convulsively as she stepped closer and reached out a long nailed hand sliding the backs of her knuckles to lightly brush the sensitive skin of his face as she stepped into him. The hand reached the into the hair at the nape of his neck and she curled her fingers to pull him gently down to her level so that she could look deep into his deep blue eyes. She almost lost herself there but remembered herself in time. Ranma by this time had discovered what caused the indentations on her lower lips and was slightly nervous about her elongated canines but other things grabbed hold of his attention at that point as her other hand slid around his waist and pulled him into a tight embrace crushing her breasts into his chest causing him to moan lightly.

"Damn I wish I knew who you were," he whispered hoarsely even as her eyes captured him further. He'd been this close to only one other female and he'd paid a price in pain for that experience, not that it ever got this far.

"Then let me give you a reminder that you won't forget," she whispered as she raised her lips in invitation. Ranma's body reacted like any red-blooded male would, he groaned as she pressed her body even harder to his, his heart-beat accelerated wildly and his groin tightened even further as his lips brushed hers. Then Ranma let out a strangled whimper as she introduced her knee to his erect manhood in a hard, precise strike that had him collapsing even as she stepped away to watch dispassionately as he dropped to the hard cold stone in a tight ball of agony.

"Well what do you know, he still hasn't figured all of it out. Oh get up, it isn't like that really hurt you."

'Didn't hurt?' Ranma thought in disbelief even as the pain seemed to vanish without a trace. He surged to his feet as soon as he figured the pain wasn't just playing with him by seeming to go away. "What's tha big idea? You could have just told me what your problem was!"

"But this way was much more fun."

"Fun!"

"For me, yes it was. If I'm going to be stuck in here you're going to pay in some way on a regular basis." The hard glint in her eyes warned him he probably wouldn't like her payments very much. "As for 'Where the hell are we?' well we're in the depths of your mind so I suppose hell is a pretty good summation. I suppose you still don't know who I am do you?" She sighed when the man before her shook his head again.

"Let me give you another reminder." She smirked viciously as Ranma quickly covered his groin before she changed her form into a five metre tall fox demon that had the wild eyed boy scrambling backwards to get away.

Ranma looked on in disbelief as her form changed and hastily scrambled back away from her. The image of the beautiful woman was erased by the glowing red eyes and needle sharp teeth which she snapped in his direction. 'Gotta get away! Ain't no way I can handle this on my own.' His back pressed against something and then he passed through what turned out to be a thick bar of some strange material with a sheet of parchment stuck across the bars. A yelp of surprised pain brought him back to the moment as the fox reeled away from the bars he'd been able to walk through, sparks of blue white lightning still flashed through her fur.

Ranma stood and watched as she transformed into her human form and approached the bars a little more cautiously this time.

"Wait! Please don't go."

"I ain't going anywhere just yet. I don't even know where I am."

"If you help me I'll give you all the answers you need."

"I ain't gonna free you so don't even bother asking."

"Actually I don't want that." He regarded her suspiciously. "It's true, I am bound at the moment by my own folly to attack the village you saw."

"How do you know what I saw?"

"We're in your mind, I can see some of the recent things that happened to you also some of your more potent memories. Like I said I had no choice but to attack as my word had been coerced from me."

"Let me get this straight, someone coerced you into giving your word. Just how did they manage to force something like you to give you word."

"There are ways, the most common is trickery."

"Trickery, uh, aren't you like a Kitsune or something?"

"I am the Nine Tailed Fox Demon, I am no mere Kitsune."

"And yet you were tricked?"

"It happens, there was a loophole. What they wanted would cost them a great deal. I specified one of their home villages in the hope that they would give up, they surprised me shen they offered Konohagakure. It was a binding contract since I'd already given my word."

"So they conned you twice. Once for what you gave them and once when they caused you to attack someone of their choice?"

"That about sums it up. Now I am bound to destroy Konoha till my dying day or until the bonds are broken with my betrayers deaths." She lowered her head in shame as she hadn't been trapped into something like this in millennia.

"So what is it you want if not your freedom?"

"To make this my prison more comfortable."

"Okay and just how do I do that?"

"The same way you created all those things. You just have to use your imagination."

"So any suggestions you'd like?"

"I like the open, forests are nice, a shady glen with a pond and maybe a small cottage where we could meet occasionally."

"Uh-unh, there ain't no way you're gonna get me on that side again lady." He snorted at the very idea.

"You realized that you've already paid the price for your part in my incarceration? You strike me in the groin and I did the same to you. There's nothing else for you to fear from me."

"Yeah right!"

"I give you my word that nothing I say or do shall cause you harm."

"Why would you do that? I mean ain't I your jailor?"

"No, you're not my jailor, you are the jail. You don't rail at the building, you rail at the person who put you there. I just thank the Kami that they gave me a second choice of vessel to be entrapped in."

"Okay you're gonna have to explain that one."

"Before you arrived there was only one vessel. He was only a baby but would have served as an adequate jail for me. The problem is that it would have been many years before we could have interacted like you and I are currently doing, if ever. I would have been trapped in this cell until the day I could convince him to change it. Being trapped in an adult has allowed me to change this dreary cell much earlier."

"Alright that kind of makes sense. So explain to me why it was you were dealing with the people who tricked you in the first place." Kyuubi was startled at the change in direction the conversation had taken but chose to answer honestly since there was no real purpose in lying to the youth.

"There are nine of us greater demons, each is immensely powerful but there is a hierarchy of sorts. Each of us have tails, Shukaku has only one tail and is the weakest of us, while I have nine and am the strongest. That is not to say I am invincible for even the strongest may fall if the attacker has the right tools. We, the demons prefer to keep to ourselves, but there are ways to summon us against our will. Certain sacrifices or religious ceremonies can bring us to the place of summoning. Once there we can refuse or grant whatever boon is asked of us, the costs of the boon can be rather high though so most think better after asking and choose to release us."

"I take it the person who summoned you wanted something specific?"

"They wanted power, but I informed them that power they had not attained themselves through training would be meaningless. So they changed what they asked for to be for longer lives so that they could train. Each will live for ten times as long as a normal man, while in that time they will maintain whatever peak of physical ability they are able to gain. Only on the very last day of their lives will they show their age. I agreed to grant this on the proviso that they met the price I would name. I had chosen one of their villages as payment for the boon thinking that they would renege at that point. I failed since they were fully aware of what I would probably ask for and had decided to sacrifice the most powerful of the Ninja villages."

"Ninja villages?" A thought of the ninja from his homeland flitted across his mind before a snort of amusement broke through to him.

"I don't think the ninja where you're from are particularly powerful. A single genin from this world would probably destroy any of your so called great ninja clans. A genin is the lowest rank of shinobi in this world, the only thing lower are the academy students and they don't count since they are not shinobi until they graduate." It was Ranma's turn to snort in disbelief even he'd pause for thought before he attacked one of the ninja clans that still existed.

"You may not believe young man.."

"Call me Ranma, I'm getting' a bit tired of being called boy or young man." Thoughts of his father and the other people around him flooded his mind with momentary bitterness as he thought of their various names for him. The only two that ever consistently called him by his name were Kasumi and his mother.

"Alright Ranma if that's the way you want it, then please call me Kyu. It's short for Kyuubi which is the name that the humans use for me since they have no hope of pronouncing my true name."

"Kyu? Right, how ya doin'?"

"Rather well at the moment. Back to telling you about this reality. I've noticed that you have a lot of Ki."

"Yeah, I'm one of the best that I ever heard of in my world."

"Here an eight year old academy student could take you apart. Let me finish, surely you could defend yourself from their taijutsu and probably even most forms of ninjutsu they use would only serve to anger you. Where they would beat you every time is in their use of genjutsu."

"The art of illusion?"

"Not completely accurate but close enough. They could entrap you in a vision so strong that you would die in reality if you were to be killed while in the genjutsu. From what I see you have no defenses against such abilities, in fact your very gullibility will work against you."

"I ain't gullible!" Ranma yelled even though he wasn't sure what gullible meant.

"You never once saw through any of the tricks and traps that were played on you. You only overcame them once they'd been sprung. Nabiki…is that the right name?" At Ranma's hesitant nod she continued, "Nabiki never once failed to rip you off. Your mind is your major vulnerability in this world."

"So what do I have to do to fix it?"

"I would suggest going to school and learning as much as you can." Ranma just groaned in resignation, seemed everyone wanted him to go to school for some strange reason.

"Not the kind of school you're thinking of, though a proper education wouldn't hurt you. I was thinking more along the lines of the ninja academy." He quickly perked up at the thought, a school dedicated to learning fighting arts? 'I'm in.'

"So just how am I supposed to get to this ninja academy if I'm trapped in here with you?"

"You aren't trapped in here, all you need to do is follow that tunnel behind you and you will awaken. Before you do though, is it possible to arrange this place as I asked?"

"Yeah sure." Ranma scrunched his eyes closed to better imagine the place she'd described, when he opened them he found Kyu giggling madly. He glared at her until he noticed some of the strangely coloured trees and the pond seemed to be filled with orange water. "Ah crap." He set about changing things back the way they should be and relaxed once every thing looked 'normal'.

"Thankyou. Now how about some clothes for me? Unless you'd like to come back over to this side and do 'things' with my body?" Her eyebrow quirked suggestively even as she raised her arms over her head and arched her back while smiling seductively at him.

"Er, ah, uhn," Ranma's mind failed for a moment as he noted that not only was she still naked but that he was as well. The fact that he'd been talking to her like that since she first appeared boggled his mind. With some difficulty he focused on the thought of his traditional clothing and sighed in relief as his normal black pants and red silk shirt appeared around his body. A kimono appeared on Kyu, one that looked suspiciously like one his mother would wear and he sighed a second time even though the silk in green with golden highlights did wonders for her figure. She was still a stunning woman who looked vaguely disappointed.

"Pity," she sighed as she looked him up and down.

"One question Kyu. Why didn't you do that before?"

"First of all, nakedness doesn't mean much to me and my kind. The second is that since this is your mind I have no control over anything other than my physical form and releasing the locks on my chakra reserves."

"Chakra?"

"Hmm, chakra is a combination of Ki and another form of energy called shen. I think shen is the right term for it in your world. Anyway you have much more Ki than you do shen, in fact your shen reserves are pitiful and we'll have to do something about that before too long."

"What about your chakra reseves?"

"As I said, I can only release my chakra. I can't wield it while I am bound in you, only you may use it. Though I won't release it until I feel you could take one percent of my total power."

"So why should I increase my shen reserves if I can use yours?"

"Because it would be best. If you were ever cut off from me you would be defenceless. Besides as I just mentioned until you have the ability to shape large amounts of chakra you would be destroyed by even a small percentage of my power."

"One last question before I wake up."

"I would agree it is time for you to awaken. It has been nearly four days since you became unconscious."

"Really? Right then. What I need to know is, how do I get back here if I want to talk to you?"

"I hope you do come back to talk to me on occasion since solitude is not my choice. As for how to get back here? That is simple, look at the seal on the bars. There is a central symbol, remember it. When you wish to speak to me meditate on the symbol and you'll be here. Also remember you are welcome here and I look forward to training you. Now it is time for you to go." She watched as with barely a nod the youth, no Ranma, turned and walked away from her. She closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to see him disappear, she really didn't like to be alone since even when in her lair she was never unattended. She might be Queen but there were many lesser demon foxes that knelt to her in fealty so there was always someone to talk to or some activity to watch. It took a moment for her to note that the forest was alive with sounds and she went off to explore her new domain.

/ To be continued…. \

Authors notes:- I have an apology to make. In my last post I slammed a certain person for 'demanding' updates and longer chapters. I don't actually mind people saying stuff like they'd like to see the next update or such soon. The problem was that I was getting over a virus at the time and was pretty(read extremely) grouchy when I read that particular review so I said some things in a manner I didn't intend. For that I apologise.


	4. Chapter 4

Fallen Leaf Chapter 4 

Disclaim, Me I do, Not for so to sue. If you do, me sue to-day not a pe-nny for to gain.

Reviews (a poem by me!)

Sometimes I pound keys night and day,  
Other-times I pause to work or play,  
But when I finally release what I wrote,  
Sometimes it's nice to receive a thank-you note.  
(Or criticism, flames, it's all grist for the mill.)

I'd also like to thank all those who review my work as I get a great deal of pleasure from knowing there are those of you out there who enjoy it as much(at least I hope so) as I enjoy writing it. Thank-you.

A/N As far as I can tell the information I have is accurate. At least according to Wikipedia it is. Kakashi is a fourteen year old Jounin at this time, and it's been a year since the mission where Obito was killed and he gained the Sharingan. I'm not sure how old Anko is but for my purposes she's around fifteen and hasn't been abused by Orochimaru yet. Naruto was nowhere near the Kyuubi when it was sealed and as such has no Kyuubi given abilities. However there is the fact that he is the son of the Yondaime Hokage to consider when saying that he's going to be just a normal child. Not so, say I, since he has the family bloodline of extremely powerful seals, plus larger than normal chakra reserves that should still allow him the ability to do Rasengan, Chidori and even a limited version of Kage Bunshin(was that the correct term?) there's also the fact that pranking is in his blood, his father was known to have a love of a good prank, little is known about his mother though. Someone asked where the conflict is for Ranma and my answer is there are targets, certain S class missing nins that shall remain unnamed for the moment and elements within Konoha who shall bear no love for the guileless martial artist.

/ Council Meeting \  
/ Two days after the attack \

The Council meeting had been in session for three hours as they were discussing the rebuilding efforts both in terms of infrastructure and man-power. The losses had been light, they all knew it, but still to lose so many ninja was to lose the deterrent that their numbers had always been. It was like the stick they used to hold the world at bay had been attacked with a sword, they still had a stick but it was somewhat shorter and looked considerably less threatening to any of the enemies they'd made over the years.

All of this talk was a waste of effort as far as the newest member of the Council was concerned. There were far more pressing matters, that would be much more pressing if they didn't do something quickly. The continued existence of the Demon Fox was a threat that was hard to ignore and yet these old fools were doing so quite nonchalantly. Then to make things infinitely worse there was the issue of the strange woman they'd found who had become the demons 'Vessel'. She was a complete unknown and then there was the fact that it was very convenient for her to be where the Demon Fox was when it was being sealed, maybe a little too convenient.

Sarutobi appeared to be waiting for more information before he decided to do the logical thing. Danzo was of a more pro-active bent of mind and figured that a simple knife thrust would solve many problems leaving the village safe while they figured out who the woman was. 'Was it so hard to figure out?' Unable to contain his ire any longer the newly appointed leader of 'Root' surged to his feet and slammed his palms on the desk in an explosion of sound that had every eye in the room staring at him in surprise, except Sarutobi who only raised an eyebrow in enquiry.

"You wished to say something Danzo?"

"When do we kill it?" His angular face flushed with the emotions he could hardly contain.

"Kill it?"

"The Demon Fox, the 'Vessel' in which it is contained. Both are a threat to the continued existence of the village."

"And what do you base that assumption on?"

"I have a bad feeling..." He would have said more but the old man cut him off.

"I have many of those myself, I put it down to old age but that can't be your excuse." Sarutobi said in a condescending tone of voice that had many of the other old people in the room chuckling along with the Hokage.

'They're laughing at me! Damn them, I have a legitimate concern for the safety of the village and they laugh at me!' Darvo's indignant outrage had him puffed up like a Blowfish which really wasn't a good look given his angular features and furrowed brow.

"Oh do sit down Darvo and listen to the reason why none of us have seriously considered killing the vessel," the disgruntled young man sat with ill concealed ire before Sarutobi chose to continue, "According to the notes that Minato left of his technique there is a good chance that killing the girl before the seal has a chance to settle properly would release Kyuubi rather than kill it. Not that I condone the killing of an innocent victim of an accident. There should have been no way that anyone other than the Yondaime's son was in a position to become the vessel of Kyuubi, that it has happened is unfortunate. In a way, I think we probably owe the young woman a debt of honour, but that is something to decide later."

"Debt of honour? To an outsider whom we have no idea of, other than that she was somewhere she should never have been?" Danzo sneered. Having said what he felt needed saying he rose to his feet and cast one more glare at the defacto Hokage of Konohagakure, 'We'll see...' he thought as he stormed from the room, let the old men deal with resources and man-power allocation. All that mattered to him was the continued efficient operation of the ANBU training cadre, 'Root', and the continued safety of the village.

/ Ranma - Several days later \

Ranma first became aware of the insistent sound of measured beeping of a heart monitor which clued him into the fact that he was probably in a hospital and a fairly advanced one at that. The air smelled of antiseptic and other chemicals that were much harder to define but that he'd become accustomed to over the course of his life. The mattress was firm beneath his body and...yep he was currently female. That wasn't as big a concern as it once would have been, not with no father to stand over him and berate him for being in the 'weak' form of a woman, and the others calling him a pervert because of his shape. He'd long since realized the hypocrisy of the people who called him names. All of that didn't mean he was totally comfortable with the gender change either, or Kami forbid, that he was going to change genders permanently. It did however mean that he didn't feel driven to change back the moment that a chance was presented or he woke up, whichever happened first.

'Wonder what changed me this time. Hmmm, I wonder what they think happened or if they even saw me as a male?' She hadn't given any indication that she was awake so far, her breathing hadn't altered her heart still measured the same beat. The problem was that she could feel an intense itch developing on the bridge of her nose. When wrinkling her nose had no effect she reached up to scratch it absently only to have the ill controlled appendage attempt to wipe the most prominent feature off her face. Wincing in pain she opened her eyes and found herself gazing into the depths of someone's grey eyes. Focusing on the face of the old man she reacted to having someone looming over her as it brought back memories of Happosai. The back of her fist met the side of the man's head and sent him spinning across the room as the Ki enhanced blow threatened to break bones.

Sarutobi painfully regained his feet after collapsing onto a sofa on the far side of the room cradling the rapidly swelling cheek that she'd struck. 'She might be diminutive but she hits like Tsunade and she's possibly faster!' Of course the fact that he'd been too close hadn't helped. He should have known better than to invade the personal space of someone he knew nothing about. Especially when he had known that the person was waking, after all he'd been working with ninja for seventy years and knew how badly they reacted to waking with an unknown person that close.

"I apologise for invading your space like that. I was checking to see how close you were to waking."

"Yeah right." Having heard it all before Ranma shrugged in indifference, she'd been dealing with dirty old men for a couple of years now and wouldn't believe him unless he would allow her to scan his ki while he spoke. The problem lay in actually reading this mans Ki. A very quiet 'Baka!' from the back of her mind reminded her that the person before her probably didn't use Ki as she did but this new form of energy called chakra which the pig-tailed martial artist had no idea how to sense.

"I assure you Miss..." He left the question hanging as he waited for her to fill in the blanks.

"I ain't a Miss for a start," at the sceptical look on his face she continued since she'd done this so many times before, "Look, could you get me some hot water, and my clothes wouldn't go amiss."

"I'm sorry but you weren't wearing any clothes when you were 'found'. Excuse me while I arrange the water." Ranma watched as the man left the room and the moment the door clicked shut she pulled out a change of clothes from one of the many sub-space pockets she kept for such emergencies. It was amazing how often crap like this happened to the pig-tailed martial artist. When the strange man returned a few moments later with a jug in one hand and a slight smile. Just what he was smiling for she didn't know and didn't think she wanted to know since there was an unhealthy amount of leer in it. It never crossed Ranma's mind to pull the sheet back up from where it had slipped and that she was showing the old man the clean white bra that some thoughtful nurse had put on her a while back.

"Now let us resume our introductions. I am Sarutobi, the Third Hokage of Konohagakure." He determinedly forced his gaze from the young woman's cleavage to look her in the eyes.

"What's a Hokage?"

"Effectively I'm the leader of this village. There is a council but in most matters my word is deemed final in matters that pertain to the welfare of the village," 'Damn Hiashi for calling me Hokage in front of so many people,' Anyone who'd heard the clan leader had assumed that it was a confirmed fact and late on the second day of the recovery he'd been approached by the council asking for his decision on whether he would take back the mantle of authority. ⌠Now that you know who I am perhaps you'd like to tell me a little about yourself?" The elderly man sat forward in the bedside chair eager to hear some answers finally.

"I'm Ranma Saotome and I'm the heir of the Anything Goes school of martial arts...Sorry about this," she said as she poured the water over her head and winced a little as the water had been hot enough to make tea. Sarutobi reared back in the chair as he regarded the young dark haired youth on the bed and the fact that the bra didn't look anywhere near as appealing when worn by a strapping young lad. Ranma reached up and unclasped the offending garment before sliding it off, moving around reminded him that wasn▓t the only piece of feminine apparel he'd been wearing either, and oh did they pinch!

The Sandaime hadn't felt any chakra used at all in the transformation, a brief flash of spiritual energy was the only indication that there was a reason for the change.

"How...?"

"Ever heard of a place called Jusenkyou?" He sighed as the old man shook his head in denial, "Let me tell you a story..." Ranma spent the next hour and a half filling in the details of his life over the last few years. Sarutobi for his part had chosen to suspend his personal disbelief for the moment, the fact that the person before him changed genders with a mere application of water was a pretty strong argument all in itself.

"So you wished to make a difference in your world?"

"Yeah, I know it sounds kooky but┘. Have you ever felt totally useless?"

"On a few occasions I have indeed felt that there should be something I could do to change the course of fate."

"Er...yeah. Something like that," it took Ranma a moment to work through the flowery speech and if he didn't know better he'd think the man was a relation of the Kuno's, "Well that's the way I felt all the time. I mean what difference does it make if I can punch holes in walls and fight a Demi-God and manage to be the only one to walk away." Technically true since Saffron had returned to an egg, they'd probably had to roll him back to the mountain. ⌠I mean the Chinese army could have dropped a nuclear bomb on the mountain and solved the whole problem a lot easier, well other than the fallout."

Sarutobi rolled the unfamiliar term around in his head as he gazed at the youth before him.

"Nuclear bomb?"

"Yeah, it's like a really big explosive. You know what those are right?"

"Yes, like these?" he held out a handful of explosive tags for the young mans inspection.

"Er, what are they?" Ranma peered closely at the paper as if it were about to explode.

"Explosive tags, they can be attached to kunai or directly to whatever you wish to damage and then detonated."

"Just how powerful are they?" Ranma wasn't really impressed other than with the fact that pieces of paper could be caused to explode.

"That depends on the amount of chakra you place in the seal. The largest explosions I've seen caused a crater several metres deep and about seventy metres across."

"Not bad. You remember I told you about Tokyo?" he didn't wait for a response, ⌠Its got a population of millions, not sure how many since I never really paid attention at school, but anyway...The cities almost a hundred kilometres across and fifty North to South." He paused to let that sink in a little before he got to the point. ⌠One nuclear bomb in the centre of the city, that's all it'd take to kill most of the people, then there's the fallout that'd kill the rest, explosive winds up to three hundred and forty kilometres an hour, not to mention fire that'd destroy every building in the blast zone that could be fifteen kilometres across."

Sarutobi stared at Ranma before bursting out, "You're joking right?"

"I wish! One of the countries in the last great war on my world dropped a bomb each on two small cities in my country. The combined death toll was a hundred and ninety thousand people. The light from the explosion was so intense that it left silhouettes on the pavement where it incinerated people, no remains were found. I kind of pitied the survivors more though, no one knew anything about radiation sickness in those days. They continued to live near the ruins and slowly the radiation sickened them and they died of horrible diseases, cancers you name it. The death toll rose for years afterwards. All from two of the first small bombs, they've gotten much bigger since that time."

"And you know how to make one of these bombs?"

"Oh sure, they teach all the little kiddies how to make weapons of mass destruction in grade one," Ranma intoned sarcastically, "Get real old man, what kind of world do you think I lived in?"

"The kind of world that would make these 'Weapons of mass destruction' you mentioned." Ranma had the grace to blush at that reminder.

"Yeah maybe, but it ain't like they just put detailed plans for the weapons on the internet or anything(1), an don't even bother asking what that is cause I don't know very much about it or anything else technical like that," other than Nabiki used to do much of her research on it.

"Hmmm, we seem to have gotten off of the topics that we need to discuss. I thank you for being so candid with me. Now if I understand the situation you are new to this world?"

"Yep. I don't know anything about it other than what you an' Kyuubi have told me about it."

"You've spoken with the Demon?"

"Yes, she was quite nice┘." 'Once she got over that whole Mouko Takabisha to the groin thing', "We even came to an agreement."

"Do tell," the Third Hokage asked softly, which wasn't fooling Ranma in any way.

"She tol' me that she didn't want to see me killed because that would see her released." Sarutobi looked confused, a look that would become very familiar to Ranma over the coming weeks.

"She doesn't wish to be released? Why exactly is that?"

"She said something about being 'bound' to destroy the village or something."

The third Hokage paused to collect his thoughts, a very important piece of information had just dropped into his hands and he needed to figure out where to go with it, or more specifically who to take it to.

"The Demon Fox didn't choose to destroy Konoha?"

"Nah, said she was tricked into it by some group that wanted power."

"Did 'she' mention a name for this group?"

"I don't think so. I suppose I could go back and ask her if you wanted."

"I do, but not just yet. We have details to finish hashing out. Now if I've understood everything you've said you have no where to stay in this world, no allegiance to any village? Is that right?"

"Well since you know how long I've been here and where I've been since I got here I'd say that's a yes." Ranma looked directly into the mans grey eyes, Sarutobi shuddered as he looked into the blue depths of Ranma's eyes, there was an innate honesty with in them that begged to be taken advantage of if he were a less scrupulous man.

"I have already discussed this with the Village Council but I wish to offer you a place within this village."

"You want me to be a part of your village? Just like that?"

"Well not so much just like that, we have a strange situation here in that, one you have no where else to go, secondly the village hasn't been this weak since the last Shinobi war, and last but not least is the fact that you contain Kyuubi who you've already stated if released will attack the village again."

"Yeah, as I understand it it's like a contract or somethin'. She's already granted the boon they asked for an' now she's gotta exact payment. They weren't supposed to want any damage done to the villages they left but..."

"Missing nins seldom have any feelings for the places they leave behind, or if they do their own personal needs take first place."

"Missing nins? How do you lose ninja?"

"Not missing as in lost but rather as in they've decided to foreswear their allegiance and thus they are a loss to the village." Better to keep it simple at this stage, Ranma didn't need to know how serious the situation was becoming.

"So what is it you want from me? I mean I'm only a martial artist not a ninja. I only ever killed someone once and really don't wanna do it again."

"Hmm, a good question, and not a bad personal aim. I wish sometimes that we all had such a choice but with the times being what they are that choice is often taken from us. To I'd have to have you tested to find out what your abilities are. That of course is something for another day. I'd suggest I find someone to show you around so that you can make an informed decision on whether you'd like to live here permanently."

"Okay sounds like a game plan, just give me a moment to get changed." Ranma slid from under the covers and Sarutobi could see for the first time why the young man had been shifting uncomfortably while they'd been speaking. Thinking the boy would be relieved he poured the last of the cooling water over him and watched the transformation in reverse.

Ranma turned on the old man in surprise, "Whad'ya go an do that for?" Confronting the man was an extremely irate red-head wearing only a pair of panties and having no care for feminine propriety. Fifteen seconds later the nurses heard an unfamiliar voice call down the hall.

"Someone get a medic!" There was a brief pause before the softly defeated voice continued in resignation, "and could someone bring some hot water?"

/ Seems like a good \  
/ place to stop for now \  
/ To be continued ... \

As always let me know your thoughts, that last batch of reviews got my imagination bubbling and boiling away. Not just for this story but for many others that seem to want writing.

(1) Yes I'm aware that there are pretty good pictures and descriptions of the first nuclear bombs on Wikipedia, and probably in many other places on the net as well.


	5. Chapter 5

Fallen leaf

Chapter 5

Disclaimer:-"Is this mine? ……hmm, let me check….. Nope! There seems to be a definite lack of royalty cheques on my end so that must mean that some other lucky bastard is getting them. That's just rude! Rude I tell you!"

Reviews as usual are much appreciated, whether it's criticism(constructive of course) or complimentary.

Please enjoy….

Hiashi Hyuga stood within the confines of the hospitals nursery looking down into a crib that held the last blood link of one of the most venerable bloodlines of the village. Without the father of this child he doubted that either the village or the Land of Fire would be as powerful as they were.

Now here lay his son, a child that would never know the love of his parents. An orphan of Konoha who, if he had any say in the matter would be treated with the respect his father had garnered in his time as the protector of Konohagakure.

Sadly there was one factor that seemed to be inhibiting that from happening. The fact was that most of the village still believed the baby to be the vessel that held the Great Demon Kyuubi and most of them had failed to note that it wasn't so. Hiashi was here to protect the child before he was given permission to take the child to live in the Hyuga compound. He would be raised with any benefit the clan leader could give, it was the least he could do to repay the debt imbued by the Fourths sacrifice.

The only way to dispel the rumours would be to sacrifice the stranger who'd had the misfortune to take Naruto's place. That wasn't something he could do in good conscience though. Since he had no idea what skill level the girl possessed it would probably be murder, pure and simple to give her over to the tender mercies of the villagers if she was unskilled. The fact that she'd been able to maintain the seal on the demon gave him some hope that she'd be able to protect herself, but for the moment it would be much easier to protect a baby than to keep an active teenager alive.

Now all he had to do was wait for the Thirds response to his request. The eight Hyuga he'd brought with him would see to the child's safety. The hospital staff had already moved the other children from the room so that the 'Demon Child' as they'd dubbed him wouldn't contaminate them. This was fine by Hiashi as he really didn't want to deal with their bigotry at this time. He'd correct their behaviour at a later date much to their regret.

/ Ranma \

Ranma sat in one of the chairs on the porch of his new domicile. Not that he really owned it, it was more of a loan from the Hyuga clan, whoever they were. It wasn't much to look at either, just a plain and simple wood cabin out in the forest but still within the protective wall of the village. Sarutobi had informed him that it was an abandoned training ground that the Hyuga hadn't used since the last shinobi war that had ended a couple of years ago. Inside the six metre by eight metre cabin was a single room with uncomfortable furniture that no one had wanted, no electricity and no running water. The one thing the place did have was the peace and solitude he craved from the days he'd spent in Nerima. Time to think and plan, time to train and test things that had been on his mind for the better part of the previous years but hadn't had the time to formulate the actual techniques.

A few minutes earlier the old man had left in a flurry of leaves, a technique that Ranma very much wanted to learn at some point but knew that he'd need to do something about his 'spiritual problem' before he could.

He'd been surprised when the old man had taken his declaration that he couldn't stay in the village for a while in much better grace than Ranma had been expecting. Especially once he'd explained the curious effect the old man had on his spiritual aura.

/ flashback \

"Hello?" he called through the bars, when he got no response he called a little louder. Eventually he pushed against the bars and found that they weren't solid to him though they seemed to contain Kyu quiet nicely. Stepping out into the grassy clearing he made his way towards the cottage he'd created thinking it the most likely place to find her. Every so often he'd call out so that he wouldn't startle his 'guest' when she became aware of his presence, Akane was a hard lesson to forget in that regard.

"Hey Kyu! You in here?" He had to restrain himself from slapping his forehead at the insensitive question, 'Where else is she gonna be?'.

"I'm over here!" Ranma turned away from the cottage and walked towards the pond where now that he looked he could see a head bobbing as the person he'd come to see swam towards him. (Unexpectedly she was doing breast stroke, for those who thought a fox would doggy paddle, shame on you.)

When she reached the shallow end of the pond she rose from the water like Aphrodite, not that Ranma knew who that was, but he did nearly swallow his tongue while muttering about Kami. Then promptly spun on his heel with the vision of the small gem like water droplets as they cascaded from her naked body etched into his mind. Kyu smirked as she watched him, she could almost feel his imagination go into overdrive. One day she'd have to ask him what he'd been thinking about, but for that they'd need to be much more comfortable with each other.

"Eeeeep! Damn it woman I made you clothes for a reason."

"I know, but they're not much good if you're swimming now are they?" she asked in an amused tone.

"Er, I suppose. I could make you some swim wear or something." Kyu looked down as she felt something constricting suddenly appear around her. It turned out to be a white thong bikini with a matching top, it was the last one he'd seen Nabiki wearing and it kind of seared its way into his mind. It wasn't much more use at covering her body than walking around stard naked would have been but it did cover certain strategic areas.

"You needn't bother on my account Ranma. I like the feel of water and 'other' things on my skin." Noting he still hadn't turned around she snuck up and wrapped her arms around him from behind. Ranma froze as he felt her press the full length of her body against his back, the whispered, "Don't you?" in his ear got him moving again. When he landed thirty feet away he spun around to face a convulsed woman holding her knees for support, that was when he noted that the effect of a semi clad woman could be more potent than a blatantly naked one especially as her posture gave him a good view of her cleavage.

Five minutes later, or what subjectively seemed like an eternity to Ranma as he waited for her laughter to stop. She'd get so far as "You.." or "The look…." And she'd be gone again. When Kyu finally stopped laughing she still wouldn't meet his eyes. He did however take the time to craft another outfit that covered a lot more of her body so that he could regain his own peace of mind.

"So what did you come to see me for?"

"Uh, how did you know I needed something?"

"You're still young for your species, you're even younger in terms of mine. What makes you think I don't know that you wouldn't be here so soon after speaking to me if you didn't need something?"

Ranma decided that this might be worse than asking Nabiki for a favour and decided to get it over with and just ask.

"Well, I suppose. Um the old man wanted to know who it was who tricked you."

"Oh he does, does he? Well let me tell you what he can do," she growled out between clenched teeth. The last thing she needed was to be reminded of her situation.

"Come on Kyu, Sarutobi ain't that bad. He only want's to protect his village from the type of people who'd release a demon to destroy their home village."

"Let me ask you a question Ranma."

"Sure…" Thinking that if he answered honestly she might be more inclined to be helpful.

"Do you know what an aura is?"

"Sure I do. What's that got to do with my question?"

"Nothing for the moment. Would you show me your aura please?"

"What right here? Now?"

"No," she sneered, "I was thinking in a month when it was too late to fix anything."

"Fix anything? What you talkin about Kyu?"

"Just show me your aura already would you before you make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry." She bared her teeth at him showing off her elongated canines that glinted in the artificial sunlight.

"Alright already, Kami keep you knickers on," Ranma winced at the slip knowing that a blow was on the way. When the expected punishment failed to materialize he opened his eyes in surprise and regarded the Fox with trepidation thinking she was just waiting for him to let his guard down.

"Well I'm waiting…." The tapping of her foot told him that she was getting impatient with him.

Ranma decided to keep his mouth shut for the moment and do as she asked and let his aura out. The coruscating sheath of blue flame expanded a few inches from his body where he left it.

"Surely that's not all of it, you've got rather large Ki reserves if I'm any judge."

"Oh, I thought you just wanted to see it, ya should have said you wanted to see my battle aura. You're gonna need to back up a bit more." He let loose with a flood of Ki and watched in satisfaction as it rapidly expanded out to two metres from his body where it slowed down until it finally stopped at two and a half metres. "There, that's how big it gets."

"That's all of it now?"

"Nah, that's about seventy percent but it don't get any bigger it just gets brighter." Not really knowing another way to tell her that it became more concentrated rather than larger.

"Impressive for a human. How long can you hold it for?"

"I don't know, never had a fight that went on that long." He totally disregarded the fight against Saffron since his recollection of the fight was fuzzy to say the least. He couldn't even remember the last half of their battle of wills.

"When you start training we're going to find out. By creating an aura like this and holding it as long as you can you'll do two things. The first is you'll strengthen your Ki reserve and the other is that you'll begin to generate Ki much faster. Curious…." Kyuubi stepped closer hardly even noticing when the clothes she wore were vaporised, Ranma did though and the aura surrounding him flickered out like a guttering candle.

"Interesting, a confidence aura that vanishes around naked women…..That's something else we'll have to sort out," Ranma gulped at the implications of what she'd just said, "but for now there's a much more serious problem. You're not normally as garrulous as you were today." She sighed in resignation as the clothes reappeared on her body, she'd really been hoping to get him a little more accustomed to being around a naked woman who wasn't trying to kill him.

"What?" He asked, he knew for a fact he wasn't garrulous, you think he'd know if he was something like that, it sounded nasty what ever it was

"I mean you don't normally talk about your life to a complete stranger easily do you? You're not comfortable in groups of strangers either, and as for friends well it's hard for you to make them isn't it?"

"Well, um…" She had a point; it was pretty hard to make friends when all the people he did know were trying to kill him in ever more inventive ways. Even the women who supposedly wanted him were prone to taking a crack at it every now and again. Normal people never stuck around to see what happened after he was attacked the first time, oh sure as a curiosity from a distance. To actually befriend him was a definite no-no since a normal person could end up seriously injured or find themselves used as bait in the continuing saga of Neriman romance.

"Then why were you talking to Sarutobi as if you were long lost friends?" Her brow furrowed as she considered her words.

"Huh?"

"I'll just say what I suspect and then we'll clear the air. The Hokage manipulated you."

"He wouldn't do something like that!" Ranma yelled indignantly.

"That you defend a complete stranger that strongly almost confirms it in itself. There are few ways to prove it happened though, and I doubt he did it on purpose. Tell me, did he ever come within a metre of you?"

"Well yeah, a couple of times. Um, how can he manipulate me without knowing he's doin' it?"

"You remember I told you that you have two types of energy inside of you? Ki or physical energy being the first and Shen or spiritual energy being the second."

"Yeah."

"Well each form of energy has its own aura. Your physical aura is impressive as I said, but your spiritual aura is pitiful. There are peasants working the fields out there who have more spiritual energy than you do," she said with contempt.

"Whoa, where'd that come from?"

"I'm trying to explain how Sarutobi could manipulate you without knowing he'd done it. Bear with me for a while. Have you ever met someone you just didn't like? Or maybe someone you trusted before they even spoke to you?"

"Well yeah, sometimes, where are you goin' with this?"

"Right, it happens to everyone. Some people think it has to do with body language or pheromones, but what really happens is that you instinctively read the other persons aura and make a judgement on that. That judgement can be over-ridden by your higher mental functions though as it only forms a basis for an initial assessment of the person. However….In the event of an extremely powerful spiritual aura, such as Sarutobi meeting an extremely weak spiritual aura such as yours the two interact. The stronger forces the weaker to change, you might have been wary of the strange man, but he wanted you to trust him, that appeared in his aura and he over-powered the natural wariness in yours."

"An' you're sure that's what he did. I don't know sounds like…."

"You see what I mean? Your natural wariness makes you doubt my explanation at first blush and you're quite prepared to argue with me about it. You never even stopped to consider the possible ramifications of blurting out your life story like that to a complete stranger."

"Hey!" Ranma was quite used to people casting aspersions on his reasoning ability but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

"Well it's true," she smiled reassuringly at him, "On the plus side it couldn't have done any harm to have been completely honest with the Hokage."

"Yeah well it isn't like anything I told him about my old life holds any meaning here. None of the people there can hurt me and the only thing I really gave away was the fact that I'm a strong martial artist. Anyway if he's anything like me he probably has ways of knowing if someone is telling the truth."

"How?" She sat down in the grass and patted a spot beside her. Choosing to sit where he'd be comfortable he sat across from her and looked at her warily.

"So ya wanna know how I can tell someone's lying to me?"

"Yes."

"I used to have to watch the persons aura, but that only works if the person is showing an aura or doesn't know how to alter it so that their aura lies as well. Though it don't work too well for some people, especially if the person has successfully lied to themselves. After a while I noticed that the eyes always contain some of the persons aura and since it's closer to their core it's harder to change." Ranma put his hands on the ground behind him and leant back.

"So the eyes are truly the windows of a human's soul? And here I thought you just liked gazing into my pretty eyes," she smirked again as Ranma blushed. 'My this is fun, I'll have him broken of his fear of women in no time.'

"Maybe. I don't know about this soul business I just know that when someone lies the aura in their eyes change. When they tell the truth it stays the same. One thing I know about the old man is that he ain't lied to me yet."

"I'm glad you put the qualifier on that statement. What will you do if he does lie to you?"

"I dunno, if what you said is true then it ain't like I'd stand a chance in a fight with him. I guess I'd just ask him about it if it was important enough. If it wasn't important then I guess I'd just let it go."

"Seems wise. On a different subject, or rather going back to something we were talking about earlier; there's a possibility that whenever you meet a new ninja you're going to be compromised by your weak spiritual energy."

"Shit! So how do I stop it? I mean I know I'll have to build up my spiritual energy but just how am I gonna do that?"

"The easiest way is to heal your own or someone else's injuries."

"I already heal quicker than anyone I ever knew, so how does healing get me stronger?

"Hmm, it's true you do heal quickly but it's unfocused. You don't actually set yourself to heal your body you just act on instinct and as such your spiritual growth is stunted. Another problem is that you use mostly Ki in your healing. It is one of the few areas where Ki and Shen are interchangeable. Until you can use only spiritual energy to heal there won't be much growth if any I'm afraid."

"So can you show me how to do it?"

"I can show you, but then you'll have to find it." She smirked as Ranma looked at her clearly puzzled. "Watch my hands, note everything you can because I'll only show you once." With that she held up a hand and called her shen to it. Ranma watched fascinated as an emerald green glow coalesced around her fingers and flowed like flames. After a few seconds she clenched her fist and the energy guttered like a candle before going out, and then she stood up and looked down on Ranma.

"It's time for you to go now. Remember what I showed you and good luck." With those parting words she turned and walked towards the cottage without a backwards glance.

/ end flashback \

Now that he was alone he didn't quite know what to make of Kyu's method of teaching him. Sure he'd dealt with such oblique training methods before but this was something much more important, something that could impact the rest of his life.

"Right, how'm I gonna find it? I know it's gotta be inside of me and it's gonna be small. Shit everyone's made a point of telling me that." Ranma didn't know who he was talking to but it just seemed to help to visualize the problem if he heard the words. Mabe it was a reaction to him not being able to 'feel' anyone else around when he'd always had someone spying on him or berating him and sometimes a combination of the two when he'd had the audacity to confront the spy.

"Well this ain't helping me sort out my problem," 'Now what do I know about what I'm looking for? First it's spiritual energy. Okay nothing really jumps out at me from that so I ain't gonna find it that way. Next is the fact it was bright green, suppose you'd call it jewel tone or somethin'. Curious though, I usually feel lots of depression whenever I see green ki and Ryoga's the only guy I've ever known to use it. So what's different? Well for one thing Ryoga's ki is really a murky green colour an it's heavy, real heavy. Hmmmm, that spiritual stuff was bright and light just like the happy ki I tried to counter depression ki with, but it felt just as strong as Ryoga at his worst.' Ranma stopped for a moment and looked around the peaceful clearing enjoying the sunlight reflecting off of the small lake, and the busy hum of insects in the air. Deciding he could come to enjoy the peace and solitude he took a deep cleansing breath.

'So, I know four things about my spiritual energy, no make that five. One it's small and internal. Two it's probably the same colour as Kyu showed me. Three it's light and airy rather than heavy. Four it's bright,' he'd gotten the feeling that if the fox had concentrated any more into her hand then he would have had to squint to look at it, 'and fifth it doesn't have any kind of emotional attachment.' Ranma stopped and examined the last point and conceded that maybe it did and he just didn't know what that emotion was. "Alright discard the fifth one. I can't prove it yet and it could make the search harder if I dismiss an emotional attachment totally." He let the breath out slowly and closed his eyes turning his 'sight' inwards.

'Here goes nothin'. Ranma took another deep breath and relaxed into the meditation technique, 'Gotta find it, she says I've got it so I must have it somewhere. Hmm, maybe I could ask Kyu if I'm on the right track……Nah, I'm gonna have to figure this out on my own. What else did she say? I know I'm missing somethin' important…. That's it!' Ranma barely restrained the impulse to slap his forehead in exasperation. The damn fox had already given him the major clue he needed much earlier in their conversation.

/ a darkened room \

"Report," the cold sibilant voice commanded of the sole occupant of the room.

"At this stage phase three has proven to be only partially successful," came the short and concise response.

"Explain in greater detail."

"Planned losses were to be thirty percent fatalities, or greater. With a total of seventy percent incapacitated. Actual losses were much lighter than that due to an unknown interference. Fatalities stand at seven percent with wounded bringing the total loss in manpower up to nineteen percent. Konoha is still too strong at this point. On the plus side is the fact that the Fourth sacrificed himself as we had hoped. Unfortunately the sacrifice proved successful and Kyuubi was sealed into a vessel."

"So the Yondaime Hokage has proved to be useful for us after all. With Kyuubi sealed it will make retrieval much easier," for once the voice sounded pleased. He wouldn't allow the apparent softening of his superiors attitude to lead him into assuming that the worst was over, the report wasn't complete yet and the man was bound to want information he was not yet privy to, "The vessel was who we expected it to be?"

"I believe so…."

"Believe so? I do not wish to hear, 'Believe so'. I wish to hear fact."

"At this time I am not in position to find out if the information is accurate. The baby is guarded by eight elite Hyuga Jounin and Hiashi himself is often in attendance. I have no reason to be in the vicinity. Anything suspicious at this stage may be investigated leaving the broader mission I am on in jeopardy."

"I see….Proceed with caution Uchiha, I will not tolerate any further failure in this regard. Phase four will be placed on hold until certain other matters have been dealt with. We will retrieve our demon at a later time also." He sighed in relief as he felt the presence withdraw and the light intensity in the room rose to show that the day was not finished outside. Itachi Uchiha winced as the first ebb of backlash flowed across his senses from the abrupt termination of the communication jutsu.

/ Ranma \

Ranma watched the blood well up from the wound on his thumb, his pulse pushing the blood out rhythmically. If the clue the kitsune had given him had been right then he should see ki flow to the wound to accelerate the healing. The trick was that she'd told him that he mostly used his ki to heal himself, with the implication that there was another energy involved. Using his 'sight' he watched the ki boil through the digit but failed to see anything approaching the shen that Kyu had demonstrated. He looked closer, increasing focus until he could follow individual strands of ki as they began to knit his flesh back together.

'There!' almost gone too soon had been a fleck of green, and there another. Soon he noticed a stream of them, tiny, disconnected but still something he could follow back to their source. A few moments later and he cold see where the shen reservoir was situated and just why Kyuubi had called it pitiful. Where his ki was a mountain his shen was a grain of sand. Pulling it out and throwing it into his healing effort he was surprised when his vision grew dim and he half collapsed. The stream of shen had lasted less than two seconds.

"Damn," he murmured as his body slowly recovered, "looks like it's gonna take a bit more time than I thought…."

/ To be continued…. \

Authors notes:- I have to apologise for the delay, I'm really a lazy git who has been so intent on vegging out for the last month that all I've done is play games and read other peoples updates. I really hope to get motivated in the near future but I'm pretty tired from being run ragged at work. I am working on things but it'll take time.


	6. Chapter 6

Fallen Leaf

Chapter 6

Disclaimer:- Brain the size of a planet and he's got me doing this. I mean why bother, it's not like anybody reads these things anyway. Here I am being asked to waste my time on a mere disclaimer when I could be sorting out other things like the economy of America, now there's a problem I could sink my teeth into, not that the engineers thought to give me teeth….

ZZZZAAAAP!!!!!

"Take that you depressing little cretin. I thought you could at least give me an airtight alibi if someone tries to sue me. But no……"

Authors notes:- It's been a while since my last update, sorry about that. Some people are gonna ask WTF after this chapter but I ask people to think on the fact that the characters are at least ten years younger than in the Manga and thus probably not as strong.

/ Sarutobi's office \

"So you have fixed your little problem?"

"Yeah, I think so. Kyuubi says I'm pretty much at a level where I can resist casual infiltration of my spiritual energy, now you'd have to work at it and from what I've seen that ain't the way people work around here. I can also create chakra as I need it, though Kyu says I'm still pretty weak in comparison to…I think she said genin, yeah that was the word."

It was true too, at first just drawing out energy had been enough to make massive advances in his spiritual energy. When that slowed down he'd begun the healing of self inflicted wounds. That had been efficacious for the better part of a month. The next step had been either to heal the injuries of other people, which really hadn't been an option at the time since he'd end up thinking like them. The other option she'd offered was to make living things grow beyond what they could on their own.

He'd opted for the second choice and went about learning all he could about the plants around him. One of the small clearings on the training ground was no longer a clearing since he'd piled some acorns into the middle of the clearing, when he'd started to pour spiritual energy into them he'd watched in fascination as they split open and tendrils of green had grasped for the sky. That first day the thirteen oak trees had grown to a height of three feet. Now a fortnight later they were nearly thirty feet high and as they'd been too close together they'd fused into a single trunk that was almost fifteen feet across. At some point he'd go back and continue the project until his shen was as strong as his ki just like he'd been told to do by his guest.

Then had come the few chakra moulding sessions Kyu had given him since he'd started converting the two to chakra, or rather a series of instructions without any kind of explanation, just a 'do this,' and 'do that,' kind of thing that had chakra moving in preset flows. He had no real idea what she'd been making him do that for, but it had proved futile to try and argue with her over it, she'd just make him do them faster and faster as a punishment.

"As you need it?" Sarutobi could feel his eyebrows rise in consternation at the concept knowing that it would slow down the execution of any jutsu the young teen learned. A fact he knew would be fatal in a real life combat situation.

"Yeah. She said something about gettin' someone to explain the difference between a ninja and a medi-nin the last time I spoke to her. Dunno why, but from the way she spoke I reckon it might be important."

"Hmmm, well there aren't really that many differences between the two…..well other than the balance of shen to ki. Once a child has been training for a while they will instinctively form chakra in either their ki or shen reservoirs."

Ranma raised an eyebrow hoping the Hokage would elaborate further on the subject.

"When children first enter the Academy they are tested for the balance of the two energies. Most children have much more ki than they do shen, those children are taught to be ninja since they instinctively store chakra in what were once their ki reserves. In rare cases though the opposite is true and the child is taught more with a bent for medical jutsu. It's all a matter of where the child stores his chakra on an instinctive level you understand?"

"How much difference are we talkin' about here?" Ranma asked genuinely curious, his own ratio stood at twenty ki to one shen currently, though he knew his chakra when he chose to generate it was as potent as many of the genin he'd been near on the way here.

"Well at that stage the ratio is about two to one for either energy form but the teachers try to raise the ratio in either case to five to one. It allows much more potent jutsu to be used or more intense healing skills."

"So why don't they just attempt to make them both stronger? Seems to me that would give your ninja an advantage cause they're able to both fight and heal." Sarutobi frowned, it was such a simple idea that he wondered why it had never crossed his mind before.

"A good question to which the short answer is that it's easier to train them to do one or the other. Once their chakra becomes instinctive they find that the proportions lock and raising either will raise the other by a proportional amount. I'm sure what you suggested has been tried before and abandoned.."

"That ain't no excuse for not givin' this a go. I don't think there's much chance Kyuubi would waste her time telling me this stuff if it wouldn't work."

"Ah, so you think you could do a better job of training some of our youngsters?" The old man smiled at the hubris of youth for a moment before Ranma's words caught up with him.

"Damn straight I can." Ranma said in his usual belligerent tones when he believed himself to be challenged, or when he believed himself to be right.

"Hmm, that's a challenge that I can't accept for the moment. I couldn't convince the council of elders to give a genin team to a complete civilian with no affiliation to the village. No matter how good that person seems to be. The only way I could allow it would be if you were a Jounin instructor of Konoha and frankly I can't see that happening for a long time." Most people took up to eight years before they were even considered for a promotion to jounin, to become an instructor could take another two or three on top of that.

"Is that a challenge?" at the old mans definite nod Ranma straightened in his chair, "Then I accept. So what's a genin team?" The old man blinked at the simple question before he remembered that the young man before him didn't have access to a lot of the information that was considered general knowledge in a hidden village.

"Well there are a number of different ranks in the shinobi world. Children start in the academy at the age of six and are classified as level E ninja since they're only students. If they graduate they become rookie genin, the typical age of these genin is from nine to twelve years old. When genin graduate they are placed in a balanced team of three so that their weaknesses are supported by their team-mates strength, just like a tripod. Now rookie genin teams are placed under the care of a Jounin instructor for a term of two years until they are considered seasoned shinobi, or until their instructor feels they're ready for the chounin exam. Chounin is the next rank in strength and skill, these form the basis of most of Konoha's defensive forces, they have good all around abilities. They are usually placed in a command position for a seasoned genin squad, or three genin teams. Above them in the command chain are jounin, they lead three such chounin teams, they are much stronger than chounin skill wise, also their tactics and strategies are more comprehensive. Of course these ranks are relative to the person involved, some genin are as powerful as a chounin is supposed to be due to either a blood limit or sheer natural ability."

The old man stopped speaking for a few moments to give Ranma a chance to let the concept of ninja as a military force settle in his mind. In Japan the ninja were solely stealth oriented. Assassination and spying were their forte, and while the ninja here could do the same he had the feeling that they were more combat oriented. Kyu had told him of some of her own battle with the ninja of the leaf and he'd been highly impressed with the fact they'd slowed her advance for nearly an entire year before she'd been able to break past it and take the offensive against the village itself. Even then they'd managed to hold her until the Yondaime had been in position to seal her away.

"So how does one get from level to level?" Ranma looked up attentively as the Sandaime continued his explanation, contrary to popular belief he could and would take notice of information if it was of interest to him or pertinent to a given situation. In this case it happened to be both.

"Well as I said there are a number of tests that allow us to judge the ability of any ninja. Rookie genin have a chance to advance, but only their team leader can nominate them. It is however a rare occurrence for a team to be nominated before they are considered seasoned. After the second year it's up to the team to nominate itself if they feel themselves ready for it. Some teams will never get past the chounin tests while others will breeze through without any trouble what so ever. Then there are field promotions that can be issued if their commanding officer is incapacitated, if they succeed in their mission the promotion may stick. It's the same process for the promotion to jounin."

"So if these genin have already left the academy that means their chakra is already locked?" At Sarutobi's hesitant nod he continued, "In that case I don't think me taking a genin team would prove anything."

"What do you mean?"

"Well if I'm trying to prove that my style of training is more effective than the one that you guys are using now then I need to start training them so that their chakra isn't already locked in the proportions that you said. I need to show that what I do is effective from the ground up, my team against any team you can put together."

"You think you can train a team capable of becoming genin and taking out a team formed from the elite families?" Sarutobi gave a rueful smile for the youths braggadocio, he might give such a chance against a team with only one bloodline limit but a team made of elites would best anyone of the same rank.

"Well I'd need to see what these blood limits were capable of, but yeah, I think I can train anyone to be the best. Of course they still won't be able to beat me, but they'll be better than anyone else their age." Ranma smirked at the surprised look on the old mans face.

"Hmmm," Sarutobi stroked his beard for a moment in thought, "I can't see any downside in this. If it works the way you hope we'll have a better method of training our ninja, and if it doesn't they'll still be strong enough to graduate as genin. Like I said though, this all hinges on your being able to become skilled enough to be a jounin instructor. Do you really think you're up to it?"

Ranma gazed at the old man resolutely, "I don't lose old man, and I don't give up."

"Then I dare say we'd better find out how much work you have ahead of you." The Hokage scribbled some notes rapidly and called his secretary into the room. "See that these messages are delivered please. Now lets head for the training ground. Now Ranma since we have a little time I think I'll show you where you'll be living while in Konoha."

/ ten minutes later \

/ in town \

Ranma watched as the old man he'd just met walked away with a casual gait that told him the other man was in no particular hurry, he'd given Ranma an hour to look around his new apartment before he came back to show him to the training ground where he'd be tested for his abilities. That was fine by Ranma as he turned his glance to the set of keys in his hand.

Looking around once more he noted that Sarutobi had fully disappeared into the crowded business street that was lined with shops and small restaurants. Various hawkers vociferously extolled the virtues of their merchandise to any who cared to listen and many that didn't. To counteract the noise the passers-by spoke just that little bit louder. All in all it showed a prosperous town much like the business centre of Nerima, no one would believe that a few short weeks ago there had been a real danger of the village ceasing to exist. The town even had its share of heavily armed martial artists wandering around completely ignored by the 'normal' people. He'd save the exploration of all of that for later though when he had the promised guide, for now he had an apartment to look at.

The Hokage had mentioned that it would be hard for Ranma to find somewhere to live if he tried to find a place on his own, even if only a very few people knew he was the demon vessel. The fact he was both a stranger and destitute in terms of local money, then no one was likely to give him a chance. The villagers were simple people who understood that Ranma was a complete unknown, and that was as far as most of them were willing to look. He'd been assured that there'd be no overt hostility towards him if the Hokage could prevent it, but things happened sometimes.

The apartment was one of six in the building he faced and luckily only three of them were occupied as they were what were known as 'Orphans Apartments'. The life of a ninja was often hard and sometimes brutally short, thus the need for somewhere to look after the children left behind. There was an orphanage for young children, but as they came of age to leave the academy they were given one of these apartments to make a start in life as genin.

Walking up the stairs he opened the fourth door along the balcony overlooking the street signs below and entered a modest living room. The furniture was spartan but seemed in good condition. The three seat sofa faced a large front window to his left, between them was a large black rug that covered roughly a third of the floor with a small coffee table sitting on top of it, the rest of the floor was exposed floorboards varnished in a rich mahogany colour. A low table under the window contained a small television set while to the right of the door a couple of bookshelves stood, completely empty and ready to take any books or scrolls the owner might buy.

There were two other doors leading off the room both of them painted the same white as the walls and after a little exploring he found the door at the back of the living room lead to a small bedroom with a large single bed that'd give him plenty of room to sprawl out if he wanted, a door to the right proved to be a built in closet while the door to the left lead into a bathroom, toilet combination. It wasn't like the bathroom at the Tendo dojo since it had a shower rather than the deep bath he was accustomed to but he'd survive.

There was another door that opened onto the kitchen/dining room. Wide preparation counters with a microwave ran along the wall to his right and directly ahead, the fridge freezer on the left of the window was open and switched off since it wasn't in use. While a gas stove sat to the right of the sink under the window. In the centre of the room was a dining table with four chairs so that he could invite people over for a meal, a fact that again assumed he knew three people who'd be interested enough to visit. Ranma gave a small smirk as he thought of inviting any three of his so called 'friends' for a meal at his home, they'd have to call the national guard to defuse the situation before too much property damage was done.

Walking through the door to his left he found himself back in the living room having come full circle through the little apartment. Like he'd been told it wasn't large but it was still really good in his opinion, what made it really good was that it was 'his' for as long as he needed it. Plonking down on the settee he relaxed for a while, the old man said he'd be back in an hour to introduce the people who'd both test and tutor him in the instance they found him lacking.

Sighing contentedly Ranma thought he'd check on Kyu as it had been a couple of days since he'd seen her. Moving to the centre of the room he got into his usual meditation stance and began the unusual relaxed tension he needed to maintain while meditating upside down like this. Closing his eyes he visualised the seal for a little while before his breathing evened out and he found himself standing before the bars into Kyuubi's prison watching as the object of his search danced through the grass, the style he'd taught her resembled the 'Gentle fist' used by the Hyuga clan to a disturbing degre

Kyu was having the time of her life, it was so relaxing, she was running through the basic Tai chi chuan that Ranma had been teaching her. Having so much strength in her true form she had never learned the value of subtlety, here behind the Shiki Fujin seal she had no real power at her disposal so when Ranma had offered to teach her some of his martial arts to wile away the time she'd jumped at the opportunity. After awhile Ranma had added the 'construct', what she would call a shadow clone, but this one had much more durability. It had considerable Tai chi knowledge as well, certainly a lot more than she did and as such it proved an invaluable asset for her training. It would teach her some new moves and then when she felt she had them down it would spar with her in such a way that she was forced to use that move instinctively. If she didn't have it yet the construct would increase the speed and scope of the spar and manoeuvre her to where she'd make the move it wanted her too.

After a month and a half she was already halfway through the basic moves and looking forward to the intermediate kata Ranma had promised her. Kyu enjoyed using the new physical abilities a great deal, since she would insist Ranma spar with her whenever he came to visit. The other thing she spent her time with was going through the library Ranma had provided her with, it contained every scroll, book or manuscript he'd ever read whether he'd forgotten he'd read it or not since the brain never forgets what it sees no matter how much time passes. There wasn't much in the way of recreational reading but with all the scrolls on martial arts and energy manipulation he'd read or been shown throughout his life she had more than enough to be going on with.

Not really paying attention to her surroundings she failed to see Ranma arrive on the scene. She did however notice when someone appeared in front of her moving in unison with her kata. Then wished she hadn't when a quarter second later she found herself on the ground with a knee planted firmly in the middle of her back.

"I've told ya before, don't over extend that move," Ranma grinned as she tried to glare at him over her shoulder.

"Alright already, you've made your point. Now can you get off of me you great lummox!" Ranma danced out of the way as one of her tails suddenly swiped through the place his head had been. When he looked back he found he was looking at a two metre tall fox with nine tails.

"Heh, cute look Kyu-chan." Kyuubi gave a yip(foxes don't bark like dogs) and leapt towards him with her mouth agape. Ranma blinked for a moment before reaching out and grabbing her lower jaw in a vice like grip while his right hand came to rest against her nose. Now it was Kyu's turn to blink as she hadn't even seen him move. A moment later Ranma found that the fox had disappeared to be replaced with a scantily clad red-head with a coy smile directed at him.

"Why Ranma, how forward of you. Would you like to kiss me? Seeing as you have me in this position," she raised her chin a little as her grin widened even further as he leapt away from her. She still hadn't managed to break him of his shyness but she was to stubborn to give up, especially since she really did like him. If only he were a fox and a lot bigger.

"Er," Ranma stepped back even further as blood rushed to his face.

Taking pity on him, since she didn't have half an hour to stand here and watch him stutter cutely, she asked, "So what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"Well, uhn, I had some time to kill and thought I'd come and see you. It's been a couple of days since I was here last."

"Really? It didn't feel like it, though I have been training pretty hard."

"Yeah I noticed, keep going like that and I'll have to upgrade the construct before too long." The warm smile that crossed Ranma's face was due to the hardwork the ancient Kitsune had put into the art, that and the fact that it was Kyu's turn to blush in embarrassment at the compliment.

Over her long life Kyuubi had had many reactions from the people she'd dealt with. Usually along the lines of unease, anger at their impotence in the face of her power, sheer unadulterated terror or some combination of the three. Respect and dare she say affection were new to her, oh sure she received plenty of empty platitudes from the members of her court but Ranma's pure honest opinion of her left her grasping for some way to deal with him.

"Come on fox, let's spar.." Ranma dropped into an attack stance, an unusual thing for him to do but he felt that he should be obvious for a while so that she got used to the difference between the simulacrum and himself when I came to speed and agility. He'd teach her the art of deviousness later.

Kyu flicked a long strand of hair back over her shoulder before she entered the latest stance she'd been taught figuring that was what he wanted to test her on. Over the next half an hour she found out just how wrong she could be as he tested her on absolutely everything she'd been taught so far. Without access to her massive chakra reserves to reinforce her speed and strength she was almost wasted by the time Ranma came to a sudden stop in the exact same place he'd been standing when they started. He didn't even seem to be sweating with the exertion he'd made.

"(gasp) You (gasp) bastard, (gasp)" she would have yeled at him if she hadn't needed the air to remain standing there glaring at him. Rivulets of sweat plastered her hair to her face and neck. She'd be surprised at the thoughts running through her sparring partners mind as he looked at the dishevelled woman in front of him.

"Yeah well, I get that a lot. You did good Kyu."

"I don't (gasp) believe you. You handled me like (gasp) I haven't done any training at all…"

"I get that a lot as well. Look it's really simple, you ain't done anywhere near the training I've done over my life. No on in their right mind would expect you to take me on and win. Not without access to your chakra anyway. This is gonna be really good for you though."

"Huh, how can this be good for me, I know I'll be fitter but…"

"It's really basic stuff Kyu. You've got an ability, enhancing your physical attributes with your chakra. I can do the same with my ki. In that sense you and I are the same, but, if my chakra was as potent as yours then I'd beat you hands down every time. An' I mean every time."

"Oh come off it, I'm older and more experienced than you. If you were as powerful as me you'd lose due to my experience."

"You wish. Let me explain. In here you've got no chakra right?"

"That's right, it's all sealed away for you when I let you."

"Correct. Now let me ask you a question Kyu. Do you think I've been using ki in here against you?"

"Well haven't you?"

"Nope, not even a little bit. Everything I do in here has been pure physical with no ki enhancement. Think about that for a moment…" Kyu frowned at him as he sat in the grass and leaned back. She wished she could relax like that at the moment but she was still too winded to want to move even if it was only to flop bonelesly to the ground. She could feel the core of his idea coming to her as she breathed as deeply as she could. Then her eyes widened as realization struck.

"You mean you're really that much more powerful than me in base state?"

"Uh, yeah, what you said. So what we're doing here will make you faster and stronger when you're free again."

"Do you think I ever will be? If I am freed there will be no stopping me from destroying Konoha you know." She tried to keep the hope from her voice but Ranma could read her like a book since he'd been dealing with Nabiki on a daily basis and Kyu wasn't as adept at hiding her emotions in human form.

"Yes, you will be free. It may take a long time to figure out how to do it, but I promise that one day you will be free." He wasn't prepared for Kyu to crash into him and pin him to the ground, her lips sought his own and she kissed him for all she was worth. Which proved to be quite a bit as the world around him faded to the focus on her lips and the feel of her stretched out on top of him as she sought to deepen the kiss further. He didn't even have time for his usual reaction of panicking at finding a beautiful woman in his arms and simply revelled in the sensations she stirred in him.

That was when he felt a stirring in his ki that signified a physical response to an attack, before he could tell Kyu what was happening he'd already disappeared as he was pulled out of his meditative state forcefully. Kyu on the other hand had no indication that the situation had changed and was leaning down to renew the kiss she'd just shared with Ranma when his body disappeared from under her. Her face meeting the turf was one of the nastier surprises she'd faced since being in here as she sat up holding her badly bruised nose. The Kitsune's eyes narrowed as she contemplated the retribution she'd mete out to who ever was responsible for this, 'Oh yes, someone is going to pay!'

/ outside \

The group Sarutobi had requested had finally turned up and they were making their way to the apartment complex where he'd left Ranma a few short minutes ago. The four youths, one full fledged jounin, a special jounin with particular skills in a given area and two chounin.

The two jounin were Kakashi Hatake and Anko Mitarashi, while the others were Guy Maito and Kurenai Yuuhi. Between them they covered the four major ninja combat arts. Kakashi with his Sharingan was the perfect person to assess Ranma's ability to use jutsu, Anko would test his ability with weapons while Kurenai would see how susceptible he was to illusion and genjutsu and Guy would test his hand to hand fighting ability. None of them were the best in the village but they were well on their way to that designation and as such would prove to be a useful yard-stick to gauge Ranma's ability.

They were mere moments away from meeting the villages most recent emigrant when the Hokage's danger sense went off. Before he even registered the physical presence of another person his body was reacting to the perceived threat, his body pivoted around his right foot and his hand touched the ground at the same instant the pane of glass he'd been beside exploded outwards. His first thought was that it was an assassination attempt on himself, a hazard of the job that he'd been prepared to deal with since his ascension to the mantle of Hokage. A moment to assess the situation changed his mind, it didn't make sense from his perspective if he was the target then it was a very clumsy attempt.

The glass shards from the window had barely reached the ground when the old man was back upright and watching the hurtling body he'd just avoided.

A loud yell from inside caught their attention a moment later as Ranma vented, "Oi you stupid git oyaji, ya closed tha…..Who the…" as his volume increased again as he remembered where he was and bolted upright to find out what the hell was going on.

"Hey old man, is he with you?" Ranma asked as his head appeared in the window. He saw that the Hokage was distracted with giving instructions to his team. Something about the hand signal used reminded him of the scroll his father had shown him, it purportedly showed the hand signs of the Iga and Koga clans, if memory served that was a 'capture' signal, pity he didn't use the 'catch' sign as it would have saved the enemy ninja a concussion. They watched Kakashi pin the enemy ninja to the ground after he'd impacted the side of the building on the far side of the street leaving Ranma and both of the girls to wince in sympathy as the masked ninja tied his opponent with brutal efficiency honed in the last great shinobi war.

Sarutobi was surprised when without a summons an ANBU squad appeared to take custody of their prisoner, then he grunted as he noticed something else and flickered from sight. Appearing behind the group leader he smashed his fist into the others temple and watched him crumple. Before anyone could react to the new situation the other two ANBU had been taken into custody by the Hokage's body guard, an elite squad of ANBU he'd hand-picked for the task.

"Sandaime Hokage-sama, what just happened?" Kakashi asked as he watched the team he'd been about to turn their captive over to were apprehended in turn.

"Don't you find it suspicious that this four man ANBU team seems to be a man short? It was more likely that they were rescuing their fourth member from capture before the official ANBU could take him into custody. I want to know who they are and I want to know as soon as possible."

"Sir, I may know something," Sarutobi looked at one of his bodyguards askance, "If I'm right then that one," he pointed at Kakashi's captive, "is a member of ROOT."

"That's a serious accusation, there have been no missions logged for the training cadre. If they are as you say from ROOT then they are acting on their own…Or they're acting on the orders of someone…." He really didn't want to finish that thought but there was only one man who could tell the ANBU trainees what to do with impunity. That just left him to wonder what the hell Danzo was playing at. The fact that he'd wanted the position of Hokage after the battle with Kyuubi had been neatly sidestepped by Hiashi's machinations. In fact he hadn't even known of Danzo's dissatisfaction until nearly a month after the fact.

Plausible deniability would say that Danzo was acting in the belief that he was saving the village, but Sarutobi knew better as he'd informed the leader of ROOT that the seal was unstable and was likely to remain so for who knew how long. It could be six months or six years, one thing was for sure, the seal wasn't stable now. If his worst fears were realized and the demon fox was freed then he'd have to do the same thing that the Yondaime had tried to do and seal the creature in a new born. Which would leave the position of Hokage open once again…..

"Take them into custody, find out what you can…. I'll deal with this later," watching the blurs of the ANBU as they headed back to headquarters with their prisoners he shook his head sadly. Thinking for a moment he came up with a contingency plan, "Kakashi, find me the nearest Uchiha and inform them that this block is off limits to ANBU for the foreseeable future. If they see anyone suspicious they are to apprehend them first and interrogate later." Not even bothering to ask if he had understood he turned back to Ranma.

"I apologise for this Ranma, it seems that you are not as safe as I'd at first hoped."

"Ah, don't worry too much about it, it ain't like this is the first time someone's tried to kill me. So do ya still wanna test me or are we gonna leave it for a while?"

"No, we will continue as if this did not happen. I will not give them the satisfaction of altering my plans."

"Cool…. So where are we gonna…." He broke off and sank into a defensive stance as a green blur descended from the roof above.

"Sir! There are no other ANBU present in the vicinity," turning to Ranma he smiled reassuringly, "You are quite safe now Ranma-san."

Ranma bristled at the implication that he wasn't able to look after himself and was about to give the teenager a piece of his mind when the Hokage broke in.

"Now, now, save it for training ground nineteen. We have much to do and little time to do it in." What he left unsaid was that with the village weakened they would be vulnerable until they had rebuilt their forces. They were bluffing the world at the moment but such things would not hold off the other villages for long, not in the world of ninja.

/ Training ground 19 \

Twenty minutes later found Ranma standing impassively as he watched his first opponent take an offensive stance.

"Are you ready?" the young boy asked his face almost split with a grin as he contemplated an easy win. The chump across from him didn't even have any chakra reserves so he knew it would be over in a couple of seconds.

"Question is, are you?" Ranma smirked as the green spandex clad youth frowned at him, it was a mighty impressive frown too. Eyebrows like that should be registered as a lethal weapon, since they were so distracting.

He kept thinking they were going to sprout legs and wander off by themselves. So entranced was he with the thick bushy brows that his next thought was, "Argh, I'm being attacked by eyebrows!' It took a quarter second for him to realise that the rest of Guy Maito came with them in the attack and by that time his opponent had almost closed the gap.

"Dynamic action!" Guy yelled as he lunged through the air. Since his opponent was staring in awe at him he felt he should show him why he should be held in awe by all that knew him as the 'Green Beast' of Konoha.

Ranma's body decided that it wasn't going to get any coherent thoughts that didn't concern eyebrows and took prompt action. The spectators were surprised when Ranma took three small steps forward. Twisting his head to one side to allow Guy's fist to graze past his face, Ranma's eyes narrowed in determination even as his open palm slammed upwards into Guy's solar plexus forcing the air from his lungs causing his eyes to bulge in surprise. Ranma wasn't finished though, as Guy's lower body swung like a pendulum around the fulcrum of Ranma's fist. The upward force that held Guy in the air was reversed in preparation to slam him into the ground.

Knowing he was in trouble when his opponent moved closer, having the air expelled forcibly from his lungs only confirmed it. Feeling the effects of the blow he tried to figure out a way to get out of his predicament before he was smashed into the ground. With his arms out of position to grip his opponent his only choice was to jack-knife his legs into his chest, a move that disrupted Ranma's thrust and allowed him to flip onto his hands and back away. Ranma chose not to follow the younger boy so that he could assess their respective abilities. So far he knew that he had the green clad boy at a severe disadvantage in speed, skill and possibly strength, though he really had no way to test that last hypothesis without taking a direct hit, not a pleasant thought but he'd done it before.

Guy wasted no time coming back with a roundhouse kick that would have taken his head off if it connected. Taking a half step back he watched as the heel of Guy's boot passed the end of his nose and then slammed the heel of his hand into the Achilles tendon adding more force to the spin. Guy didn't panic, even though it hurt a great deal, he pulled the leg lower and used the added momentum to pull his grounded leg up and smiled as the heel hit Ranma in the solar plexus.

Ranma conceded the point as he met the trunk of a tree with bruising force. 'Alright, better skill than I first thought, still lacking speed though. Let's push and see just how fast he is,' Ranma leapt forward and lifted his opponent off his feet with a knee to the gut, as Guy doubled over he brought his elbow up and again smiled as the youngster managed to block it. Even the sensation of his elbow going numb with the pressure point strike didn't erase his good mood since he'd found a worthy opponent, he wasn't as good as Ranma, and he doubted he was as tough as Ryoga but his skill level was somewhere between the two and his speed was just above Ryoga's.

Five minutes later Ranma had figured out his opponent and knew that if it had been a real battle he could have destroyed him. That of course wasn't the way he worked, he'd rather keep the worthy opponents so that they could both get stronger, driving each other into realms of martial arts never seen before. His respect was a hard earned thing but the fact that Guy had taken a beating and was still standing changed his usual smirk into a heartfelt smile of appreciation. Although Guy was rather battered and breathing hard, Ranma had to admit that the guy's endurance was admirable.

"You ready to end this Bushi-chan?"

Guy couldn't figure out if he'd just been called 'Little warrior' or if it was a reference to his eyebrows, either way he wasn't happy and let his opponent know when he glowered at him, "You bet, you're going down now!"

"Yeah right, you and which eyebrow?"

Guy lunged for his rival and extended a fist to wipe the knowing smirk off Ranma's face only to feel a fireball of pain explode in his extended limb, the pain expanded along the limb and finally all over his chest area as his opponent yelled, "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!" The boy froze in shock as his system literally shut down as the pain overwhelmed the last of his reserves and he toppled over backwards without even trying to break his fall. Ranma felt his eyes widen as the realization of what he'd just done sank in, 'Ah shit, he ain't as tough as Ryoga,' he thought before panic began to set in.

He knelt down and felt for a pulse sighing in relief when he found it, he then set about cataloguing the damage. By the time the spectators had joined him he'd figured out that the hand he'd struck was a mass of shrapnel where bones had shattered outwards, the arm was broken in at least seventeen places and the shoulder dislocated where he'd slammed several consecutive blows into the area and forced the socket apart. His ribs were a mess with five broken and a number cracked, his left lung was punctured and he was slowly drowning in his own blood. That didn't even begin to catalogue the internal damage done to the boys other organs.

"Ah crud!" he immediately started to heal the worst of the damage but knew that if he didn't get some help there would be no hope, he wasn't skilled enough to heal things like bones and organs, sure he could handle cuts and abrasions but…. Turning inwards, an act that had become easier since he'd developed his shen to the point where it could stand up to another persons casual invasion, he sailed past the seal without even stopping to consider what he needed to do.

"Kyu! Where are you?" Ranma bolted across the clearing and into the cottage, which proved to be empty. The clearing outside was also devoid of life which left only the forest. He sighed in relief when he saw a small fox leave the shadow of the undergrowth and head in his direction. The red furred fox headed in his direction at speed and skidded to a halt already in the process of changing back into the stunningly beautiful woman he'd met just a few short months ago.

"Hey Ranma, where's the fire?"

"I need your help. I hurt him, I hurt him real bad and I don't have the skill to fix it. What do I do?"

"Whoa, whoa, hold up and explain what happened," she put a hand on his arm to steady the young man.

"It was supposed to be a test, to figure out how good I am. At the end I got carried away and used a technique on him. It was bad Kyu, real bad, I broke so many bones," Ranma was almost in tears as she moved to wrap her arms around him. He'd never meant to hurt the other guy, just show them that he wasn't using his full potential. How could he have forgotten that he wasn't fighting Ryoga? Maybe it was the tenacious will that would not give in? It didn't matter to Ranma now, he had to make things right.

Kyuubi looked at him and tried to figure out the best way to help. True she could possess him for a short time but she'd still be cut off from her own reserves. She'd have to give him access for a short time, he wasn't ready yet to do this and it would leave him in pain for the better part of a day but if he really felt that he needed to make amends then she'd do what she must and so would he.

"I have a solution Ranma," he looked up and met the yellowish eyes of Kyu as hope reared its head, "It'll hurt like the dickens but….I can fix him, or rather my chakra can. Go back out there and prepare to heal him, my chakra will help. Try and keep a mental touch with me," Ranma puzzled over what she meant but figured it'd be clearer if he just did what she said, after all that was the way it usually worked when he was being trained by the fox.

Ranma's eyes flickered open again and he looked down at the chounin, he was starting to bruise all over and his breath was shallow as he struggled to draw breath into his one good lung while the pain of his broken ribs washed over him. His glazed eyes looked up into Ranma's and the pig-tailed martial artist flinched at the imagined accusation buried within. He flinched hard when a hand grabbed his shoulder and tried to pull him away.

"Out of the way Ranma, we need to get him to the hospital!" Kakashi tried to move Ranma again but had to take a quick step back as the boys aura exploded in a pillar of swirling yellow and green, a moment later the shen pulsed again as it reached out under Ranma's instruction and ploughed into the younger boy.

"Stop! You're killing him!" Kurenai wanted to rush forward to protect Guy as she saw her friend cough up dark arterial red blood that ran down his chin in an almost continuous stream. She would have broken down and wept, except like the other people who'd been waiting their turn at Ranma she was still too shocked at the level of damage that had been inflicted in less than a second.

Ranma felt the tidal wave of power surge through the seal and gritted his teeth against the pain. He wasn't going to give in, he had work to do. A thin command seemed to reverberate down the weak spiritual link he'd formed with the Kitsune.

"Focus on the bone in his lung, good, now force chakra into it. The body knows that the bone is out of place, it goes against the natural template stored inside the boys DNA, it will try everything to fix the problem but the human body rarely has the power to deal with damage of this level without outside help. You are that help, you will keep feeding his body with our shen until it has corrected all the damage. More! Keep feeding him….." Ranma watched in awe as the broken rib, at least four inches long slowly dissolved, the hole in the organ slowly repaired once there was nothing to impede it, "Pull back to the severed end of the rib and pour more energy into it," Kyu commanded as the urgency was no less now that the major damage had been fixed. If they didn't hurry the boy might remain a cripple for the rest of his life, or Ranma would run out of energy and they wouldn't be able to finish the healing process

"But,"

"Don't argue, he's still a long way from being recovered, you're responsible for this. You fix it!" He wasn't in any condition to argue with her even if he wanted to as the pain tore into him even stronger than before. His mind was working fine though, he'd felt pain as strong as this before, only the one time but he knew he could survive it, only Saffron had died that day. So focused was Ranma on fixing the internal damage that he never noticed the blood being forced from the newly repaired lung. The dissolved bone had been returned to raw material that the body was using to rebuild the removed rib in the place it was supposed to be. All in all it took several minutes to complete its re-genesis, after which Ranma turned his attention to the other broken ribs and watched as the cracks sealed as if the bones were liquid that flowed together again.

Moving upwards the shoulder was literally pulled together with a sickening pop that Ranma barely acknowledged, he was too busy with the breaks in the boys arm. Then he moved down to the shattered remains of Guy's hand, knowing that if left the way it was that the boy would never practice the art he loved again; he poured even more energy into the process and watched as the bones melted away to be replaced with completely new bones just like the rib.

The whole healing had taken less than a quarter of an hour and the youth still looked like he'd been put through a meat grinder but he was breathing easier and the blood had stopped flowing from his mouth. To Ranma's ki sight there was still a lot of internal bruising and some minor damage to some of his organs but he could see residual shen being used to accelerate the healing process even as he withdrew the main source of energy from Guy.

The spectators had jumped when the shoulder popped back into place, it was the first outward sign of what Ranma was doing since they hadn't been able to penetrate the maelstrom of chakra that enshrouded both youths. They'd watched as the green aura had been depleted and almost overwhelmed by the yellow. Only Sarutobi knew what that meant, since he and Hiashi Hyuga were the only two people who legitimately knew that the Kyuubi no Kitsune was sealed into Ranma and not the babe of the Yondaime Hokage. When the skin over Guy's fingers suddenly went limp like a deflated balloon Kurenai lost control of her stomach and had to turn away from the spectacle so she was the only one who didn't witness the fingers gradually be restored to the state they'd been in before the fight. When the process was finished the chakra storm flickered briefly before vanishing completely.

No one was in position to catch Ranma as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he keeled over with a groan of pain. He was no longer being semi supported by the Kyuubi's shen. Even if they had of been close enough they wouldn't have been able to, since the shock was too great. Sarutobi was the first to shake off the effects of being immersed in the demon foxes power and rushed forward to find out what the situation currently was. It took a moment to diagnose two cases of chakra depletion, and one case of massive bruising. If he was any judge it'd be weeks before the 'Green beast' of Konoha, as he liked to be called, would be in shape to resume his training. Ranma he didn't know about, it was one of the worst cases of chakra burnout he'd ever seen in his long life, he hoped against hope that it didn't lead to the youngsters death.

A surreptitious signal had the ANBU squad that was always present around the Hokage appear at his side, "Take these two to the hospital," he'd barely finished before they were gone again. Sarutobi sighed resigned to the situation.

"Hokage-sama, what just happened? Why did Ranma try to kill Guy?" Anko had been unusually quiet since the battle had begun as she'd watched something she hadn't believed possible, the new boy had decimated one of the most potent fighters in the village without the use of any chakra. Then near the end he seemed to go crazy as his hands blurred, she shuddered as she remembered the sound of those fists thudding into her comrade and the crackle of bones breaking in rapid succession.

"He didn't Anko-chan, if Ranma had intended to kill Guy then he would be dead. This was purely an accident and that is what my report will say."

"How can you say that sir!" Kakashi yelled at his superior.

"Because Kakashi no one who intended to kill would then almost kill themself in a bid to undo the damage he'd inflicted. Two people almost died here today and we can only thank the Kami that they weren't…….

/ To be continued…. \

Authors notes:- As per usual I'd like to apologise for the delay. I'm on holiday at the moment, and boy did I need it, I was so tired all the time and just couldn't get motivated to do anything other than work. Hopefully this short break will rekindle my writing spirit.

Reviews are always welcome no matter what the content. As long as it's constructive.


	7. Chapter 7

Fallen Leaf

Chapter 7

Disclaimer:- Which is no relation to the Scottish band, that's the Proclaimers, the disclaimers are the bit where us poor unpaid fools who write fanfiction, for 'free' I might add, make sure that everyone knows we don't own enough to be worth suing.

/ Ranma's head \

The first thing Ranma thought of when he opened his eyes was, 'Owww!' In fact the concept of 'ow' filled his whole world at the moment.

He'd felt like this a few times in his life, notably after the beating Saffron had given him, but this was the first time he could remember waking up within his mind and hurting this much.

The first thing he recognised were the bars to Kyuubi's prison. He wondered what the fox would make of three visits in one day. Of course after the first time he was wondering what the hell he was supposed to think of her, true she hadn't made a secret of the fact that she found him interesting. Kissing just wasn't one of the things he had much experience with, contrary to Akane's beliefs. Any time he even came close to choosing to kiss someone the whole world turned to crap around him and the moment was lost.

That kiss was the first real kiss he'd shared with a woman who was truly interested in him. Xian Pu had the honour of having taken his first kiss, but he didn't count that as he was pretty sure that her only interest in him was to fulfil the task she'd been given by the Amazon elders. Kyu on the other hand was the first woman, if he could use the term loosely, who wasn't required to get close to him, who's honour wasn't hanging on being the only woman to marry him. He groaned as he used one of his personal swear words in conjunction with thoughts of a woman….

….and groaned again as he pushed up and made it too his knees, then using one of the prisons bars he levered himself onto his feet and swayed for a moment before he even contemplated moving inside to see the person most on his mind. Leaning forward he staggered letting gravity pull him and just swinging his leg out to support his weight at the last moment. He winced as he thought about what would have happened if he hadn't managed to do it in time, and the follow up thought that he'd have to get back onto his feet after he recovered from the inevitable pain of falling flat on his face. The second step proved easier with momentum on his side and he finally pushed through the space between the bars and onto the grassy knoll that overlooked Kyu's domain.

"Hello Ranma, I thought I might be seeing you," Ranma's reaction to the sultry words was to whirl on the spot as he sought Kyu. This proved unwise since he still hadn't regained his full balance and he sprawled onto the soft grass and nearly passed out.

"Well, that's nice. That's just the way I like my men," Kyu smirked as she looked down at Ranma with her hands resting on her hips. The smile slid from her face when she realized just how bad his condition was. He couldn't even answer her he was so busy trying to suppress his agony as his breath hissed out of his lungs. "Oh, you're in worse shape than I thought you'd be. Just relax Ranma, focus on breathing," she knelt down by his head and lifted him slightly so she could slide underneath him and pull him back against her so he could breathe easier.

"Said it hurt…."

"Shhhhhh. You just rest, it'll get better," she stroked his forehead smoothing his hair and stroking his temples as she spoke soothingly to him.

"Why….?" he managed to whisper.

She thought about it for a moment, most of what she said went over his head as he'd always been a kind of see it then do it kind of martial artist. Actually reading or being told how to do things or why things happened a certain way was a new thing for him.

The problem was that he needed to know what had happened. "Alright. You know I gave you access to my shen? Don't answer, just listen. When I did that I had to push the shen through your own system. The good news is that your spiritual reservoir is much larger than it was. The bad news is that the sheer volume of shen strained it, it'll take time for you to recover and you'll be fragile for a while. It could be a couple of days before I consider you healed from this. Sleep is probably the best medicine for you at this stage Ranma," she looked down into his blue eyes and saw his acknowledgement of what she'd said. She could feel him trying to relax further as he blocked pain as much as he could, it took time but eventually his breathing evened out and he fell into a fitful slumber watched by a demon.

/ ROOT \

Danzo watched as the last of the ANBU trainees fell in for parade before he spoke. "Parade! At ease!" He wanted them relaxed for the moment, they'd be on exercises for the next week with full ANBU teams and things would be tense then. This was really an informal briefing session.

"You have an onus to be the best, to work the hardest and to succeed where others would fail. This is all that matters, there is no second place, there are no second chances. We are ninja, we are the shadow, we are life and we are death. Emotion has no part in what we do!" He stalked to the end of the line and faced the first of the sixteen boys and girls he'd hand picked as the next generation. He was pleased when the youth didn't so much as flinch at finding his superior officer almost nose to nose with himself. Checking the boys equipment he glowered at the hapless youth even though his equipment was perfectly prepared for any kind of short term mission which was all that trainee ANBU were capable of.

"You want to be ANBU?" he asked silkily.

"Yes sir!" came the reply from sixteen throats as they crashed to attention.

"Then you will train, you will train yourselves into the ground. When the time comes, when our enemies think we are weak, you will be the strength that holds them back, your lives, your blood, and your skill! At ease I said." He waited a moment before moving on to the next and next in line before he spoke again. "There are those who think that the mission is not as important as your comrades, those who are weak. But you know better don't you?"

"Yes sir!" This time they stayed at ease when they answered.

"You know that there is nothing more important than…." He trailed off as he felt a presence behind him.

"Don't let me stop you Danzo, please finish," Sarutobi smiled benevolently as the younger man whirled to face him. He'd taken the time to see Ranma and Guy in the hospital and a little longer to don his formal robes and jingasa before he came to put the man on notice that he had over-stepped his mandate.

"Parade! Attention!" Sixteen heels crashed into the concrete floor as they snapped to attention from their easy position. "Hokage-sama!" The salute was crisply perfect as his cold obsidian eyes watched the old man approach.

"Impressive, but tell me Danzo….. Aren't there supposed to be five teams?"

"Yes sir! Team five is currently on R and R!"

"Really? Perhaps then you could tell me why they are currently incarcerated at ANBU headquarters?"

"I couldn't say sir. Would sir care to enlighten me?"

"No. I don't think I shall. At this point I can prove nothing but that in time will change. You would be wise to make preparation for that time Danzo."

"Sir?" Danzo quirked an eyebrow inquisitively as if inviting the Hokage to further his words.

"As I said I can prove nothing but that won't stop me from acting if you overstep your authority again. I will get to the bottom of your unsanctioned mission. Don't bother protesting your innocence, we both know that even if they acted on their own initiative that you are personally responsible for their actions. Having said that you are hereby relieved of command of Root until such time as I complete my investigation," turning away from the suddenly apoplectic councillor he faced the trainees, "You sixteen are dismissed, you will report to ANBU headquarters at O six hundred hours tomorrow for reassignment. That is all." Having said all that he needed to he turned on his heel and vanished in a whirl of leaves that disappeared before the chakra constructs could hit the floor.

Sixteen pairs of eyes watched as their former leaders colour deepened as rage threatened to overwhelm his control. Clenching his hands tighly he swallowed as he once again reaffirmed his intent…. He would be…. He swallowed again and before their eyes all the emotion that had seethed from him before seemed to vanish to be replaced by an icy expression.

"You have your orders, dismissed…" turning on his heel he stalked from the room. His mind seething with plans within plans, he kept returning to one thought, 'You're going to pay for this old man!'

/ Kakashi \

Kakashi snorted in surprise as he jerked fully awake, the steady beep of the heart monitor had lulled him towards sleep. Looking around the room bleary eyed he wondered what had drawn his attention.

"Kakashi? Wha happened?" Guy asked his rival, albeit a one sided rivalry. They'd known each other for years, he'd met the then chounin in Stone pass during the last war with the Land of Earth when his genin team had been pinned by a superior force of Iwanin's. Their rivalry had spawned from the same instance and it had driven Guy in his career advancing him a rank, though his rival had also risen in rank in the interim.

Kakashi's head whipped around in surprise at the voice, the healers had said that he wouldn't wake before morning. "Heh, you got your ass handed to you. Just try not to move, the doctors said that you're to stay in bed for a few days while you recover." He'd never tell Guy but his recovery was a relief, he hated the thought of losing another friend, he'd lost so many in the war. He smirked under his mask as he contemplated the battle the doctors would have on their hands trying to keep the workaholic in bed when he wanted to be training.

Guy winced, he felt like he'd been run over by a horse, and then the cart that it'd been pulling. He couldn't even remember those last few seconds of his confrontation with Ranma. "Water?"

Kakashi obliged placing a straw against Guy's mouth while he drank, "Better?" and was satisfied when Guy nodded.

"Yeah," his voice stronger now that his throat wasn't so dry, "What did he hit me with? It feels like a wall fell on me…"

"I've never seen anything like it. He called out something about chestnuts and the next thing I know I couldn't even see his hands. He moved so fast, the doctors say there's evidence that he broke your arm, smashed your hand, dislocated your shoulder and broke just about every rib you've got. Not to mention the soft tissue and internal organ damage. He did all that in about a second."

"Don't feel that bad?"

"Like I said, I've never seen anything like it. The doctors called it a brute force healing. Your body was trying to fix itself but didn't have the energy. Ranma did though; he kept pushing chakra into you until he collapsed. Damn near killed himself." Kakashi hadn't understood everything they'd said to him but he got the gist of it. Ranma apparently lacking the skill of a seasoned healer, who could have used much less chakra to produce the same result, had literally used a hundred times the chakra to force Guy's body to heal itself, or at least that's what they told him. The chief surgeon had told him that once Ranma woke up he was going to receive chapter and verse on why it wasn't wise to do what he'd done.

Guy remained silent for a few minutes as he sought to process his thoughts on the situation.

"He's strong then?"

"I don't know how strong he is, but I get the feeling he was just playing with you…." Kakashi trailed off as he saw the frown on Guy's face, alright, let's face it there's no way he could miss it even in the semi-darkened room, it was the eyebrows. A few moments later his face brightened again as he came to a decision.

A few rooms away Ranma shivered as a cold premonition triggered some primal instinct.

/ Kyu's prison \

Ranma didn't know how long he'd been asleep this time but he felt a lot better, other than the sudden chill that enveloped him. Better in this case was definitely a relative term as he was still in excruciating pain, but it was still a lot better than before.

"You're back. Feeling better?" Kyu asked as she walked across the room towards the bed.

"A little… If I ever do something that dumb again you have my permission to kill me, it's gotta feel better than this." He didn't even need to specify what he was talking about.

"I don't know about kill….smack you around a bit definitely," she smiled as she smoothed his hair away from his eyes.

"So you said something about my spiritual reservoir? Just how strong am I now?"

"I did, if what I'm seeing is correct then you're about even with the normal ratio that Sarutobi mentioned earlier."

"Eh! But that ain't possible, how could I have gone from twenty to one to five to one?"

"I told you I strained your reservoir. Once you wake up it'll take a while for you to replenish it but once you do things will go much smoother. Oh and before you ask, there's no way in hell I'll do that for you again. You can train the normal way from now on," she grinned as he mock pouted as she shot down his latest plan for a short-cut in his training.

"You might want to ask the medics here for training," she offered as a sop to his wounded ambition.

"You reckon they'd go for that?" Ranma brightened up immediately at the prospect.

"I don't see why not, you have a good grasp on the human body from your martial arts so it should give you a head start when it comes to healing."

"Maybe, but all I really know how to do is damage the body," he stopped and thought for a moment, "Well I suppose there are those few dozen pressure points that Doc Tofu managed to teach me while I was dodging certain people."

"I know there's a story there somewhere. You'll have to tell me about it all sometime."

"Yeah sure, when I got a couple of hours ta kill. So what are we gonna do until I wake up?" he asked. He knew that she'd have some kind of training planned for him.

"Well now that you mention it there is something you can do. You remember the flow techniques I've been teaching you?"

"Of course I do."

"Good because I'm going to show you the final three and you're going to practice them, now watch…." Over the next several hours she showed him again and again how to mould his chakra. She didn't explain that most ninja used hand signs to aid in the training. It was easier for certain, but eventually they would learn to shape the signs with their minds, but only for the simplest or most common techniques they used. The most common being the academy jutsu of henge, kawarimi and bunshin. He had plenty of time to practice since it would be twenty four hours in the real world before he woke and only three of them had passed so far…..

/ Twenty one hours later \

Ranma opened his eyes to find himself staring into cleavage, not only could he see the gentle swell of a womans breasts he could also see her navel as the top she was wearing was cut so low and loose. All in all he could think of worse things to see when he opened his eyes. There was a subtle smell that he knew from the times he'd been close to Xian Pu who didn't believe in perfume or scented lotion, the scent of a woman that penetrated straight to the core of his brain and put him on alert. Looking up he found magenta coloured eyes staring back at him, it took a moment before he recognised Anko Mitarashi from their brief encounter the day before. He knew it was at least a day because while he hadn't been fully aware he had been aware enough that he could feel the passage of time.

It took a moment for his eyes to focus on the rest of her face and found that she had an evil smirk because she knew just where he'd been looking a few moments ago and while she didn't really have any interest in him it was a little flattering to know that she was worth a look even though he was four years older than her. Ranma on the other hand had just begun to blush at being caught.

"Mitarashi-san?"

"You know something? You're cute when you blush." Her knowing smile turned almost pure leer as the blush on his skin deepened. Inside she watched as he reacted to her barb and reflected on the fact that it was nice to be the one in control for once. She hadn't felt that way since her eighth birthday when the man who destroyed her life first took notice of her.

/ \

Not many people understood her anymore, and even fewer trusted her. Her sensei had seen to that when he turned out to be a barbaric monster, not to mention a traitor to both the ideals and honour of Konoha but that had come later, much too late in her opinion.

At the time she'd been a starry eyed academy student who'd been thrilled to be hand-picked as being worthy of his personal training. At first things had gone normally, she'd been the apprentice to one of Konoha's heroes and it'd felt good to advance in skill and strength so quickly. It didn't take long for her to lose her heart to her teacher, he had so many things going for him. He was smart, strong and handsome and through her eyes he'd eclipsed all the other Sannin combined in power.

Then in her eleventh year she'd become a woman for the first time and felt all grown up crossed with her first crush it had proved to be catastrophic as her emotions burgeoned into what she'd thought was true love, and that's where things went bad. Her teacher was maybe supposed to notice she had a crush but he wasn't supposed to act upon it. Over the course of the next six months he drew her closer and then four months before her twelfth birthday he'd made her a woman in fact by taking her virginity. Truly feeling the connection to her love she'd been willingly duped into doing many things that would come back to haunt her in the near future.

Anko's breath shuddered as she remembered the things he'd done to her, her body reacted as he'd taught it to as she remembered his touch, his tongue and not to mention…. Her heartbeat accelerated and breathing shallowed and she shivered in reaction. Then a moment later she shivered even harder as a wave of revulsion washed over her, she didn't know then but she knew now just how unreal the whole thing was.

The bastard had kept up the pretence for nearly eight months after that before he lost interest and used her for the purpose he'd first intended, to further his study of cursed seals and blood-line limits. There hadn't been anything too serious at first, just blood tests and other anatomical studies, she hadn't minded since he was the love of her life, or so she thought, the core of ice she'd been suppressing since then threatened to overwhelm her. Then a couple of days before he was discovered by the Sandaime Hokage he'd subjected her to a barrage of tests that were pure torture, she'd screamed incessantly for hours before he'd allow her to pass out letting her body recover minimally before rousing her and starting again. When he'd ground her reserves into the dust he'd placed one of his curse seals on her with callous disregard for whether she lived or died.

When the ANBU had searched the snake Sannin's underground research facility they'd found what was left of her chained to an examination table. The damage done to her had been so extensive that at first they'd thought her another corpse, there had been so many elsewhere in the facility that it had been a logical assumption. There were times when she wished, when she felt they were right. After the snake had left she'd found her world in ashes, a thirteen year old left to pick up the pieces of her life and to wonder if there was anything more for her.

The aftermath had been more gruesome for her though, in a time when her family should have supported her they'd broken their ties with her. Blamed her for what had happened as if she'd asked Orochimaru to turn into a monster, a traitor to the village. Tarred with the same brush as her mentor she'd faced ostracism from all quarters. So yes sometimes, late at night she wondered…Would death be so much worse than her life?

/ \

Ranma watched as the young woman before him froze, her eyes dilated and a haunted expression descended over her features. He'd seen a lot of things in his short life, he'd even seen girls who looked like this and knew that the stories behind it were never pleasant. A moment later he recognised another set of emotions he'd become familiar with over the last couple of years. arousal was something he'd been subjected to on many occasions but in this instance he knew that he wasn't the object of said emotion, or at least he hoped not when a moment later a look of intense nausea appeared, so rapidly after her last emotions that the two had to be associated in her mind. Her gaze throughout had remained blank but now her eyes refocused on him and their was a depth of bleak pain held in them that should never be seen in anyones eyes much less those of a fourteen or fifteen year old girl. Then again Ranma would be the first to tell you that some adults were absolute bastards

For the first time in his life he felt the urge to hold someone, someone who knew the kind of pain he'd suffered, someone who if he was correct would not appreciate any kind of human contact. All he could do was return her gaze as a little life returned to her eyes and hope that she could read the compassion held within. He had no way of knowing what forces had shaped her but he could sense a kindred spirit, she had faced her demons and in the end she was still standing, battle torn and weary but her defences had weathered the worst and now she was rebuilding them even stronger than before. In another world he might have stepped forwards to help her, to shape them in such a way that she didn't cut herself off from the rest of the world. But that was in another world, a world where he didn't carry his own share of battle scars, a place where the actions of his so called friends didn't make him wary of any person who approached him with a friendly demeanour. A time where he still had a shred of the innocence he'd carried as a child, before he'd killed for the first time, before he'd learned that honour was a variable thing with multiple interpretations depending on who was doing the interpretation.

Knowing his own life and how it had shaped him he knew that any such action on his part would freak her out severely, so settled on gently touching her cheek and giving her a reassuring smile. Even that proved too much as the young girl flinched heavily and backed away with a wary look in her eyes like a wild animal. It was the kind of wariness that could only be learned at the hands of another human being.

"You know there's a way to beat him?" it was a stab in the dark on his part but he could feel that the kind of damage that had been inflicted could only come from someone she'd loved, and it seemed he'd been right when she backed against the far wall and watched him fearfully. There was something else in her body language now though, that hadn't been there before, an expectancy, she was paying attention and hoping that there was a way to hurt the person who'd hurt her. "There's a way to beat him, but it won't be easy and it ain't for the faint of heart….."

A moment later Ranma almost groaned in frustration as the door opened and broke the tension he'd been building. He'd have to work harder to influence her later. It couldn't be helped though as a nurse breezed in looking down at her clipboard.

"Good morning, and how's the patient today!" she asked in a cheery voice, she hadn't looked up yet so was totally surprised when the complete chakra depletion case she'd thought wouldn't wake for the better part of a week answered her greeting.

"Yeah I'm good, but I've been better." Ranma grinned when the nurse dropped her clipboard and whirled in his direction. The look of shock on her face almost made up for her interrupting him.

"Y-y-you're awake?"

"Heh, looks that way….." he trailed off as the nurse bolted from the room saying something about getting a doctor.

"Now where were we? Oh yeah. You wanna make him pay don'cha?" he wasn't going to wait for Anko to reply, "You don't want him to win, do you?" Watching her he felt she'd taken a step towards him without even moving physically, he nearly had her……

For the second time the door burst open to admit someone he rather wished could have waited for a little longer. The doctor was paying attention when he entered though, with a nurse trailing in his wake.

"Ah, so it seems you're awake. Remarkable recovery time by the way. Do you mind if I examine you?" If Ranma did he wasn't given time to reply as the doctor was already checking his blood pressure and heart rate before he'd even fully focused upon the glare he was getting. "Ooops, sorry about that, got a little excited there…… I was hoping to figure out how you recovered so quickly." The doctor who hadn't introduced himself yet raised an eyebrow in query.

"I would have recovered earlier if I weren't trying to allow my shen reserve to heal a little." Definite eyebrow raising this time, but this time it was in surprise.

"What do you mean," if he'd understood what his patient had meant then it would mean that Ranma could both slow and quicken his chakra regenerating ability. That went against everything he'd ever learned while becoming a medi-nin. He could feel a research paper coming on, only to be shot down a second later as Ranma who hadn't liked the gleam in the older mans eyes replied.

"Ask me that question later would'ya? I'm kinda busy here, or didn't you notice?" His hand gesture drew the doctor and nurses eyes to the young girl who was plastered against the wall.

"Nurse, call security…" all congeniality left the doctors face as he turned to face the traitor, she was unstable and he needed to get her out of here before she did harm to his patient. "I'm sorry about the…." He turned back to Ranma and felt the back of his throat dry out when he found himself looking at the biggest Rasengen he'd ever seen. He didn't know how it was possible for this stranger to be using the Yondaimes personal jutsu but….. He had no way to know that the construct that rested in Ranma's hand was made of pure ki and was in fact called a Mouko Takabisha. That paled into insignificance though as the doctor noted the hostile glare that was directed solely at him and not the intruder who looked like she wanted to push through the wall behind her.

"Don't you ever speak to my guest like that again. Unlike you Anko-chan here is here because I 'want' her here. You ever disrespect her again and I hear about it, then that's the day you're gonna thank the Kami that your job lets you work in a hospital." Ranma wasn't sure where the hostility had come from, or maybe it was the knowledge that she was more like him than anyone here would ever know that had him feeling so protective. He didn't care what kind of mistake she'd made, there was no excuse to treat her like that, she was a child in his eyes and as such had a great deal of leeway where her actions were concerned.

The anonymous doctor backed away as Ranma swung his legs from the bed and sat up, looking much more threatening when he moved. The sheet slid from his chest showing off the muscles he'd earned with years of martial arts training, everyone's eyes were drawn to the scars that covered his torso. Fine white lines criss-crossed his body where clean cuts had healed nearly seamlessly, then there were the jagged scars where he hadn't been so fortunate. The doctor and nurse team had seen ninja in their forties who were less scarred than this youth. When he stood the sheet that had been hiding his lower body finally gave into gravity and slid to the floor revealing that he was clad only in boxers, a fact that should have made Ranma look less threatening than he actually did. Of course the narrowing of his eyes and the feline grace of his movements combined with the ball of pure energy that hadn't faltered while he was rising all leant their own weight to his threat level.

Ranma for his part realized he'd made his point, he knew that he probably hadn't changed the mans opinion of Anko but at least he wouldn't be disrespecting her openly. He was about to reabsorb his ki when he felt something on the edge of his senses, it didn't seem possible but there was someone else in the room, someone good enough that it'd taken him nearly five minutes to sense their presense, even then he couldn't tell exactly where they were. Deciding that things he didn't know could hurt him he sent out a weak pulse of ki in all directions, a technique that acted like radar to his exceptional senses, he could count the people within fifty feet of him in any direction no matter what they were doing to hide themselves. The hand holding the Mouko Takabisha swung until the sphere was pointing at one of the walls.

"You should stop hiding now," Ranma said almost conversationally. He was the only one who wasn't surprised when a heavily armed ninja appeared with barely three inches between himself and Ranma's ki, "Who are you?"

"Hideo Ishikawa," it didn't matter if he gave his name, plus there was the point that the young man had moved his Rasengen an inch closer to his chest. That wasn't the deciding factor though, it was the fact that the boy had created a chakra shield that was visible to the naked eye. It was shaped so that the energy from Ranma's attack would be channelled through Hideo's chest. Which wasn't a pleasant thought. On the plus side he knew that the second he'd been discovered he'd been able to activate his panic alarm that would have assistance on its way to him any moment now.

Sarutobi sat at his desk wondering why his day was so quiet, he'd been able to plough through his paperwork earlier in the morning and was enjoying the respite. It didn't stop him waiting for the other shoe to drop, nothing ran this smooth in a village the size of Konoha for very long. Deciding to pre-empt the inevitable he turned to his crystal ball and began checking up on some of the key projects he was engaged in. Checking ANBU headquarters he was satisfied to see that they had been plunged into chaos with the inclusion of twenty new trainees that needed to be assigned to existing teams, while those teams that were already full were shuffled to make way for new members with ill concealed grumbling at losing long term team-mates.

It was about time they had a shake up of the teams anyway, when things remained static for too long complacency could set in and that was when things could fall apart, when an enemy could take advantage of a weakness they'd had time to find. With the teams in a state of flow there would be a period of readjustment where teams that had relied on one member to do a particular job found, or trained someone else to do it.

Deciding that everything was running as smoothly as it could be with things the way they were he turned his attention elsewhere.

The next major project lead him to finding two for the chakra expenditure of one. Anko was with Ranma, he'd have to figure out what that meant at another time, he could see by the body language of the pair that told him they had connected on a certain level. He only hoped that Ranma could reach her, he'd attempted to do so when Orochimaru had vanished almost a year ago and left his apprentice to deal with the brunt of the ignorant villagers wrath but there were things that had happened to her that he couldn't understand, things that had led to misinterpretations of signals that had led him to make mistakes with her. Mistakes that had cost him his one chance to influence her for the better. It seemed that Ranma, oh damn, he watched as Ranma and Anko were interrupted twice in quick succession. With the inclusion of two other people the moment was lost and again he could only hope that Ranma could regain the ground he had obviously lost.

He watched fascinated as the doctor poked and prodded Ranma for a few moments before his attention was drawn to Anko who'd shrunk against the far wall, and then the doctors affable demeanour disappeared, as did Ranma's. The appearance of a blue sphere of energy caused the Hokage to blink in surprise before he reacted by calling a team of ANBU before he began to move for the door, his own team of bodyguards plus another as backup should prove adequate to diffuse any situation. Since he had already left the room, there was no one present to hear when the panic alarm went off in the Hokage's office.

Ranma could feel his ire rising as he considered what it meant to have a strange ninja hidden in his room. With three other people in the room besides himself and the ninja in question it was possible that the man had nothing to do with him. A moment of thought caused him to discount two of the people in the room as possible recipients of a spy watching their every move, it was unlikely that the doctor or nurse required anyone to watch their every move. That left himself or Anko as the target which did nothing to lower his blood pressure.

Someone was going to do some explaining in the very near future and he'd be damned if he was going to let that person weasel out of giving him full and honest answers and they'd find out the hard way that they couldn't deceive him if they tried.

Not wanting to be surprised by anyone he let out a larger pulse of ki than the first one, this time it was a long range scan that told him that there were a number of large ki signatures closing on his present position, and the largest was a mere streak to his senses, 'Shit! The old man's nearly as fast as Khu Lon.'

Five seconds before the Hokage arrived Ranma allowed his ki system to reabsorb the Mouko Takabisha. Hideo didn't breath any easier though as he'd left the shield up with the implication that the sphere of ki could reappear just as quickly as it had gone. The tension in the room overall lessened without the overt threat of imminent destruction.

The doctor regained a little of his colour and the nurse straightened up from her position behind the doctor. Anko was still standing like a statue as she tried to figure out just why Ranma was so protective of her, thought she had to admit it was a nice feeling that someone was willing to stand up for her. The nurse was getting her first good look at Ranma since he'd risen from the bed and was wondering if he had a girlfriend, he was a little younger than she was but that paled into insignificance when she took in his physique. She'd heard one of her friends call a guy she knew 'Drool-worthy', at the time she hadn't understood what she'd meant but now she had a good appreciation for the term. The arrival of the Hokage and two squads of ANBU proved to be like a bucket of ice on her raging libido though.

"Ah Ranma, I hope you don't mind me dropping in like this?" the old man asked sardonically as he surveyed the situation. "Doctor, please return to your other duties. I'm sure you're no longer needed here, you as well nurse."

"Yes sir," both parties said as they exited the room quickly.

"You too should return to your duties Hideo…."

"Hokage-same, would it be too impolite to ask what Hideo's duties are?" Ranma asked as the aforementioned ninja disappeared again.

"Not at all Ranma, Hideo is part of a protective detail that watches over Anko-chan." A surreptitious hand signal dispersed the two ANBU squads to their normal duties and eight blurs of dark motion were the only indication of which directions they had gone. Ranma could 'feel' the three men and the woman who made up Sarutobi's normal bodyguard as they took up positions to safeguard their charge.

"Eh?"

"Anko was the victim of a heinous crime. Unfortunately a number of villagers and even a few higher ranked ninja have proved to be ignorant of the situation and unwilling to change their opinions after new evidence came to light. That means that her life is in danger until such a time as her current actions outweigh her supposed past crimes." Sarutobi stopped speaking to allow Ranma a chance to absorb the information before continuing, "Of course this is something that will resolve itself in the passage of time and thus should be left to the future. We have more immediate concerns, such as your place within this village."

"Now Ranma-san, Anko-chan, are you both rested enough to continue with the weapons portion of the test?"

Anko straightened from her position against the wall and murmured a quiet 'yes' that was nearly too quiet to be heard. She was more concerned with the fact that the ANBU that was assigned to watch her was there for her protection and not as she'd suspected, to make sure that she didn't betray the village like her mentor had. The thought that the Hokage had more concern for her than her own family had was a surprise as well. They hadn't even waited for the dust to settle before they'd left the village declaring that they needed to be somewhere where their disgrace of a daughter didn't reflect poorly on themselves.

"Good, good. And how about you Ranma? Are you ready?"

Ranma opened his mouth to answer in the affirmative when the door burst open from a forceful kick and an embarrassed Kakashi wheeled Guy Maito into the room.

"I'm sorry about this sir, he insisted he needed to speak with Ranma and told me he wouldn't settle until he'd said his piece."

"That's quite alright Kakashi," the old man said before turning to Guy, "How are you feeling Guy? That was quite a beating you took." The obvious concern in his voice made Ranma look at the old man with more respect, he was used to elders acting with callous disregard for the young people whom they inflicted themselves on. To actually see an elder who cared for his subordinates was a rather eye opening experience and firmed his resolve to stay here. Kyu had been adamant that Konoha was one of the best of the shinobi villages and it seemed she was right.

"Yosh! I feel fine Hokage-sama, I will be ready to face my rival later today!"

"Your rival?" It had to be asked since he, like everyone else thought that Kakashi was his rival.

"Yes, my rival. Ranma may have beaten me this time but I shall win the next time and prove myself better than him!" He frowned at his self-proclaimed rival and wondered why Ranma was allowed to wear boxers when he had been forced to wear a hospital gown. There was no way he was going to get out of the wheelchair until he was back in the privacy of his own room.

"You! My rival? I don't think so eyebrows," Ranma taunted the young boy and then chose to drive the message home with one of the insults that he personally detested, "Besides you're a hundred years to early to defeat me." Watching carefully he had the satisfaction of watching the expression on Guy's face change, where before he'd been determined he now looked apoplectic. Kakashi chose that moment to decide that the confrontation was over for now and started to wheel his 'friend' out of the room since Guy seemed to have said all he intended to for the moment.

He was going to be disappointed in that as Guy's head snapped up and made eye contact with Ranma, his pointing finger trembled with the force of his suppressed emotions as he fought to get the words out, "Then, then I shall defeat you with the flames of my youth!" The last Ranma saw of him was that extended finger as Kakashi finally pulled the wheelchair from the room. Sarutobi and Anko both sweat-dropped as they heard the eccentric chounins latest catch-phrase, they'd have to think of some way to thank Ranma later.

"Ah, well. Wasn't that interesting?" Sarutobi asked rhetorically. Ranma just scratched the back of his head as he fought the urge to face-vault.

"Er……." was all he could manage in the way of intelligent conversation after that confrontation.

"I suppose we'd better make a move . If you would please get dressed Ranma and meet us back at training ground nineteen. Come along now Anko-chan," the old-man gestured for Anko to precede him from the room. Ranma just sighed before gathering his clothes wondering when he'd learn to keep his big mouth shut.

/ Training ground 19 \

Anko glared across the clearing at the empty space her opponent had been standing just moments before. He'd been doing nothing, just watching her as she readied herself for the battle ahead. Nothing prepared her for whatever technique he used after she gave a curt nod to alert him to her readiness.

Ranma smiled as he stood watching Anko as she glared at the space he occupied, he wasn't sure if the Umi-sen-ken had worked as it should, or if the people here had ways to detect him. The only way he could be sure was to move and see if she reacted. The smile widened as he circled left and drew no reaction, her body-language told him she had no idea where he was as the seconds began to stretch, she looked all around as she started to panic. She'd seen every kind of stealth ability possessed by Konoha's ninja but she'd never seen something like this, and that was the problem, she couldn't see him at all using any of her senses. Moving in any direction posed its own hazard as she was just as likely to be moving into danger as out of it.

Ranma's smile widened as he pondered the situation, it seems he'd been right, the people here had chakra sight, meaning with training and experience they could detect the combined ki and shen of an attack or technique but couldn't see the component parts that made it up. He'd had a similar problem with being able to sense shen or chakra when he first arrived, though he'd worked on it and now had pretty good ability to sense them both. Kyu had seen to that with stalking training using him as the deer, he didn't want to think about it again either as it was very unnerving to be snuck up on by a fox that was three metres tall at the shoulder and had a habit of pouncing on him with her full weight.

Anko decided that she only had one option to defend herself from whatever the hell it was Ranma was doing, and boy was she gonna make sure he trained her so that he, or anyone else couldn't use this against her in the future. The option she had was to saturate any suspected area with metal, preferably sharp pointy metal that he'd have to dodge and hopefully give his position away. The grass to her right rustled, it might have been a breeze but she wasn't taking any chances as she began launching shuriken in a foot by foot grid that covered ten feet in all directions from the sound she'd heard. Unfortunately Ranma was already descending from his prodigious leap, a quick flip and he landed directly behind Anko, his right arm reached around her throat while his left encircled her midriff and Anko froze as she felt cold steel touch her skin in both places and a whisper in her ear telling her it had been a good attempt. It was a nasty predicament and the only reason she wasn't dead was that this was only an exercise and Ranma had not carried through the attack with the speed she knew he was capable of.

With a little warning she could have kawarimi'd out of there but any move on her part now would leave her a corpse in a real life situation with either her throat or belly torn open or maybe both. She breathed easier when she heard the Hokage called for a break.

"Hold." Long practice froze both martial artists in place, it was one of the first lessons learned in full contact sparring, "Break!" Ranma stepped away from Anko making sure that he didn't cut her. He was a little shaken with the experience all told. The protective streak he'd discovered where she was concerned was really quite strong, strong enough to make the prospect of hurting her anathema to him. Not that he enjoyed the prospect of hurting anyone but in this case there was something else that he hadn't recognised yet. It'd come to him in time, for the moment he needed to attend the Hokage as he walked over to the pair.

"That was an impressive technique you used there Ranma. I could not sense you at all. Would you please explain just what it was you did?" He didn't know it but Anko breathed a sigh of relief, if the leader of the village couldn't sense Ranma when he did that then she had nothing to be ashamed of if she couldn't do it either.

"Er, sure. I suppose it won't make any difference now to my pops if I tell ya," Ranma scratched his nose and sighed, "Let's see, er…. You remember how I said locking chakra was a weakness?"

"I do, are you telling me you were able to utilize said weakness?"

"Yep!" Ranma smirked at the look of consternation on the old mans face, "It's easy for me to use ki, shen is something new to me as is chakra. When I first arrived I couldn't see the two latter at all. Now I'm pretty good at seeing them all. I'm pretty sure you can suppress your chakra like I do with my ki," he waited for a nod of assent from Sarutobi, "Would you mind demonstrating?" Instead of answering the old man simply disappeared and moved away from the young couple and was totally floored when Ranma's gaze never wavered as it tracked him around the clearing.

Dropping the technique he just had to ask, "You could sense where I was all the time couldn't you?" He left the rest of the question unasked but both of the teens knew that as the Hokage he needed to know.

"I was right, you can suppress your chakra reserve, and since you're trained as a fighter that means that you instinctively store your chakra in your ki reserve. So when you suppress your chakra you're effectively suppressing your ki as well. Problem is that you don't do anything with your shen reserve and to my 'sight' and maybe to a healer you stand out like a bright green neon sign. If they were looking that is," he added hastily as he watched the surprised mans expression.

"It seems that you can teach an old dog new tricks. Well you can try anyway. I wonder….." he trailed off as he considered the strategic implications of being able to hide from and detect enemy ninja with such abilities as Ranma had displayed.

"I see….Maybe you should both continue with the test? Ranma, please refrain from using that technique again in this spar since it is to test your ability to use weapons and nothing else. The only technique I deem appropriate to this test is kawarimi," having stated his conditions he then turned to Ranma, "If you need any weapons for this portion of the test you have only to ask."

"Nah, I've got plenty," he was smiling at the perplexed expression on the old mans face as he tried to figure out just where Ranma was keeping his supposed weapons as he hadn't seen anything other than the two combat knives he'd used in his first attack and he knew for a fact that Ranma didn't have a seal scroll for his weapons such as Anko was carrying. Ranma decided to have a little fun and leave the old guy to wonder about it, he could always explain afterwards.

"I had been kind of meaning to ask where you got those knives you were using before." He left his words hanging.

"Ah you know how it is, you pick these things up here and there," the Hokage decided that Ranma's smirk was not one of his most endearing personality quirks as he found it rather annoying when he felt that he was being laughed at rather than being asked to share in a joke.

"You mean you stole them?" Keeping his voice bland and unchallenging Sarutobi allowed his words to hang in the air waiting for Ranma's reply.

"Hell no! I can't help it if people keep throwing weapons at me, I figure if they're doin' that then they obviously don't want them anymore. Now are we done with this?"

"I suppose I can wait to find out more. Anko-chan, do not go easy on him, I want to know just how good he really is."

"Yes sir! Care to join me Ranma?" Ranma didn't miss her wolfish grin as she sauntered to the middle of the clearing and waited. She couldn't figure out how this was going to be a fair test of his weapons skill when he didn't appear to have any weapons on his person but decided that Ranma seemed to know what he was doing so far, her mind flickered back to a couple of minutes before when he'd ended the first round without even breaking a sweat. Alright, time to earn some respect……

Sching, shing, shing she blocked the first salvo of thrown weapons reflexively and chided herself for not paying attention, she wasn't going to let that happen again and diverted her full attention to the task at hand. When she looked up she had time for a hand-sign before the wall of steel descended on her position and a moment later she was looking down on the clearing from fifty feet away in time to see the log she'd substituted simply disintegrate under the fussilade of sharpened steel he'd launched in her direction.

He hadn't even moved from his starting position and from what she could see she still couldn't figure out just where in the hell he was getting so many knives from. From her concealment she launched a return volley of her own, four kunai and twenty shuriken arced down on him and were swept aside by a naginata, now that he definitely wasn't hiding up his sleeve, and damnit she'd given her position away!

He didn't even bother to use a proper throwing weapon, just launched the naginata like a javelin causing Anko to roll off the branch she was currently on and then dive aside as the branch crashed down behind her. Diving for cover behind the thick trunk of the tree she'd been in she was followed by a line of kunai and throwing knives. Making the safety of the tree she heard the solid thunks of the heavy throwing blades struck the opposite side of the tree. The purple haired kunoichi knew she was in trouble, she needed a plan, she needed to be able to get close to Ranma but he wasn't cooperating with her at all. She didn't have time to figure out what to do about his seemingly endless supply of throwing weapons either. The pig-tailed martial artist wasn't giving her time to create a plan either as a chain appeared in her peripheral vision and threatened to wrap her to the tree. Her blade was the only thing preventing that from happening as she pushed the flat of the blade against the chain maintaining a foot between the chain and her body allowing her to slip downwards and away before Ranma pulled the chain taught ripping a line in the bark where she'd been a moment before.

Ranma was openly grinning at Anko's ingenuity, so far she'd stayed ahead of everything he'd thrown at her. Sometimes by the skin of her teeth but still he hadn't gotten any closer than his first volley. He watched as the chain he'd launched twisted around the trunk and as the end came back around he pinned the last link to the wood with a thrown kunai and then pulled hard. Anko proved to be slippery though as she let her legs buckle under her and slid beneath the imprisoning band of steel landing flat on her back.

She wasn't there long as she put on an impressive burst of speed, directly towards him. Most people would have called it suicidal but Ranma knew it was actually harder to compensate for someone moving towards you, that didn't stop him trying though and again he found himself impressed at her sinuous agility that allowed her to almost flow around the weapons that penetrated her swords defensive arc. Touching ground once again Anko thrust her sword only to wince as Ranma stopped the blade between his palms, he then allowed the force of her blow plus her momentum to push him over backwards. The kunoichi was just starting to think she had him when his foot rose and caught her in the stomach, not so much of a blow as a gentle shove that propelled her into the air. Her stubborn refusal to relinquish her blade caused her to vault around and land n her butt, it also had the effect of freeing the blade as Ranma really didn't want to lose any skin.

This put Ranma at somewhat of a disadvantage since Anko was semi-upright and had a weapon drawn and Ranma was now flat on his back looking up at her. So he saw when she drew another of those damn kunai and launched it at him. Now Ranma had to try something he hadn't ever done before, he'd only seen the hand-signs for it once and even then he hadn't really thought about what he'd seen until he caught on that she'd just used a technique and then his mind drew the parrallels between the hand-signs she'd used and the mind-signs Kyu-chan had been teaching him. Unfortunately knowing the signs wasn't enough to be able to use kawarimi to substitute himself out of danger and the blade sank into his shoulder as his hasty block missed completely.

"Hold!" Sarutobi called for a halt, though truth be told Anko had already frozen in place in surprise that she'd actually been able to hit Ranma. She'd assumed that he'd be able to get out of the way of her throw and they'd continue the spar. She was having too much fun to want to stop now, but with an injury they'd have to end things. Seeing blood slowly seeping from his wound she scrambled to her feet and immediately went for her first aid kit.

"Are you alright Ranma?" Anko winced at the silly question, of course he wasn't alright, he had a knife sticking in his shoulder.

"Ah don't worry about it Anko-chan, I've had worse than this. Plus I heal real quick," Ranma said warmly even as he grasped the hilt of the blade and slowly drew it from his flesh. Pouring shen into the area as he did so sealed the wound immediately leaving only a fine white line and a slightly red blotch on his skin to show where he'd been wounded. Anko began to blush slightly, it was one thing to be called Anko-chan by an old man, it was something else entirely different to be called that by a young man whom she found physically attractive. Not even Orochimaru had used that particular tone when he called her Anko-chan, there was always an underlying mockery that she hadn't noticed until a few months after the betrayal. "That'll teach me to try something new in the middle of a fight," Ranma murmurred self mockingly as he watched the Hokage approach.

"Do I take it that you tried kawarimi then?" Sarutobi asked as he came up to the duo. Anko just looked at him askance hoping he'd explain that question since she hadn't seen Ranma use any hand-signs, then she stopped as the only other possibility occured to her.

"Yeah. I don't suppose you can tell me what I did wrong?"

"Certainly Ranma. Your chakra manipulation was perfect, I've seen very few people who can make such clear mind-signs. The problem lay in the fact you don't know the underlying theory of the technique. It's like putting paper and ink together and expecting them to explode." Ranma blinked trying to figure out what he'd meant by that. "Observe," the old man drew a slip of paper out of a hidden pocket and showed the seal that had been drawn on it, "This is called an exploding note. Once activated with a certain amount of chakra it will release and amplify the energy explosively. Watch." Ranma was fascinated as the paper began to smoke just before the Hokage threw it like a shuriken, it struch a tree ten metres away and exploded in a furious cloud of smoke and flame that washed back towards them though only the smoke reached them. When the smoke cleared Ranma could see that considerable damage had been done to the tree.

"As I said, paper and ink, but with the correct theory applied to it, it is so much more. Kawarimi is similar, without the underlying theory then you're just moving chakra to no purpose. Now Anko, have you seen enough of Ranma's weapons skills?"

"Yeah, I think I've seen enough. Now all I want to hear is where he got all those weapons? I know he doesn't have a scroll..."

"That is a good question, one to which I'd like to hear an answer."

"Um, well most of em came from Mu Tse..."

"Mousse?"

"Nah, Mu Tse, it's two words see."

"Ah then this Mu Tse is a person?"

"Yeah, blind as a bat but still a person, I suppose." Sarutobi heard much history in the resigned tone of Ranma's words and tried to recall what Ranma had said about the people he knew in Nerima, oh, one of the many rivals.

"I see, so you confiscated his weapons?"

"Nope, just cleared up the battle field after he left. He was never any good about picking up his toys after we finished playing. Course he was usually unconscious for a while afterwards and when he woke up he'd just stagger away." Ranma gave them one of his patented evil smirks that had different effects according to the recipients gender. Anko ignored the effects as best she could as she confronted Ranma.

"You still haven't answered my question. Where are you hiding them?" Ranma winced as she shouted at him, and then flinched as she began to pat him down. "Answer me!" Ranma was about to panic at her aggresiveness when he gratefully heard the Hokage call for Anko to desist. It was only then that she realized that she'd had her hands all over him, he probably felt like he'd been molested or something. Ranma who'd been molested on more than one occasion wasn't quite sure how to categorize what she'd just done to him, somewhere in the back of his mind a voice was making comments that made him extremely uncomfortable. He really was going to have to have a word with Kyu later since she'd made him blush at a really bad time. That and the thought that the demon fox was actually interested in him so why was she trying to push him off on Anko?

Anko looked up just in time to note the blush spreading across his face and went pale, she was right he did think she was a molester, "Um, er...I'm sorry." Ranma blushed even harder as he resisted the urge to give in to Kyu's demand that he return the favour to Anko-chan. The old mans next words were like a bucket of ice water. He was beginning to wonder if deepening his spiritual links had been a wise decision after all if it gave Kyu the ability to intrude like this.

"When you two are finished I think I'd like to hear from Ranma just how it is that he can hide so many weapons."

Ranma thought about it for a moment and then looked Sarutobi in the eye, "It's a...It's a...You know somethin'? I don't know how it works..." but hastily ammended as he saw the look on the old mans face, "I mean I know how to do it, but not why it works. That's probably why there are things that Mu Tse can do with it that I can't. Well I'll figure it all out one of these days, after all someone had to do it for the first time and I've got the advantage that I know it 'can' be done." He was about to continue when he noticed someone approaching at speed. "Um, I think there's someone ta see you Hokage-san."

"Hmmm?" He turned in time to see the chounin come to a halt less tha two feet away, "State your business."

"Sandaime Hokage, you are hereby summoned by the village council. You will present yourself at their leisure." Having stated the message he'd been given the man nervously stepped back and raised his eyes to meet one of the most powerful men in the village.

"They do! Well then I suppose I should hie away and see what they wish of me shouldn't I?" The sentence started out sweet and bubbly but ended on a growl as Sarutobi began to scowl, damn arrogant bastards, who the hell do they think they are? The messenger was about to bolt when the Hokage nailed him with an ice cold look, "Tell them that I shall be there shortly, I have some business that I must finalize. Now go!" The chounin might have approached them quickly but he was going a lot faster when he left, he definitely didn't want to be anywhere near an angry Kage.

Anko Mitarashi looked slightly perplexed as she gazed after the chounin, she wasn't sure what was going on but if the expression on Sarutobi-sama's face meant anything there was going to be trouble.

"Sir?"

"Never mind Anko-chan, it's just a foolish game played by old people. Now you two, this training session is over for the day. Ranma I will see you at eight tomorrow morining at the Academy, please don't be late. Anko-chan please do me the favour of showing Ranma a little of the village, just don't stay out too late please." With that he disappeared in a cloud of leaves. Ranma just wanted someone to teach him how to do that, it had to be one of the coolest looking entrances or exits he'd ever seen, and he'd seen quite a few in his time in Nerima.

"So Anko-chan where we going?" Ranma raised an eyebrow as he surveyed the blushing girl.

"Ah-are y-yo-you hungry?" Ranma just grinned, now they were talking, he didn't even notice her body stiffen when he looped his arm around hers and dragged her back towards the village.

/ Council chambers \

Sarutobi left the council chambers in a grim mood, he brushed his robes down and tried to ignore the spot of blood near the hem of his official robe. He hated politics, he wasn't sure why Kuhiko Toriumi would make such an asinine challenge, he hadn't stood a chance, not without the support of the major ninja clans or even some of the major merchant families. Even with the support the outcome would have been the same, so why?

He knew that the mans position in the council had been a sinecure from the Yondaime to gain support for a particular position he'd held nearly five years ago when they'd still been at war with Iwa. The following years had kept Minato much too busy to actually lead Konoha as more than a general and it seemed that the civillian council had gotten used to being the power in the village. When the war had ended there had been a brief moment when the Yondaime had attempted to take back his mantle of authority but then the Kyuubi had attacked and such plans had been placed on the backburner. With Sarutobi moving to take back the position of Hokage they'd felt threatened, they'd taken certain liberties with the authority, he was sure of that much and he'd find out and reverse as much of it as he could in the near future even if he had to have Morino-san take them into his tender care to find out just how much they'd gotten away with.

Kuhiko and his supporters should have known not to make such an obvious play for power, especially when he wasn't really holding any of the cards. Now the Toriumi clan would have to be appeased, maybe he should commision a village funeral for such a fine upstanding citizen who had died before his time.

/ flashback \

He'd walked into the chamber and barely paused while taking in the situation. He'd been correct, none of the true power-brokers of the village were present. He'd stepped onto the dais at the front of the room where Kuhiko stood and waited for the man to make his play which wasn't long in coming.

"Sarutobi, it has come to our attention that you have taken the title of Hokage. A matter that has not been decided on by this council. You will stand down and await this councils decision on the matter." He totally ignored the man as he moved closer, he hadn't missed the mans apprehension when he'd made his prepared speech and he was sickened that this coward thought he could control one of the most powerful men in Konoha.

"You know Kuhiko-san," he said conversationally, "I once suffered a snake to be born, and when it came to power do you know what it did?"

"Uh..."

"It bit me, the person who had taught it, the person who nurtured it, and do you know something Kuhiko?"

"Er..."

"I won't suffer the same fate twice," his hand was a blur as it passed through the space occupied by Kuhiko Toriumi's throat, the blade of his kunai made a hissing noise at it cut the air and other things and then watched as the councillor clutched at his throat before turning back to the assembled council, "And the way to deal with a poisonous snake is to cut off its head." He hadn't waited for any reaction from the other people who'd been present he'd merely walked out of the hall at the same steady pace as he'd entered mere minutes before.

/ To be continued \

Authors Notes:- Okay tell me what you think. Have I gone too far, not far enough. Are you confused yet as to what and where the hell I'm going? I assure you there is a plot and it'll start to appear in more detail shortly, that's my solemn promise.

Um, just so we're clear 'shortly' is a subjective term, my definition of it may differ to yours so please bear with me.

REVIEWS ARE MORE THAN WELCOME! Gimme! roflmao. Sorry, though I do like to hear from you after you read my work. The more the better


	8. Chapter 8

Fallen Leaf

Chapter 8

Disclaimer:- I keep deluding myself that one day all of this will be mine, sigh, until that happy day I'll just keep punching keys for free I suppose. Got to keep the readers amused somehow, ne?

Authors notes:-

A new concept from me, as it usually annoys me. Put simply I'm going to answer one or two of my reviews here. I won't make a habit of it and I certainly won't do what really annoys me, which is answering twenty or thirty reviews and expecting the reader to wade through them to reach the story. Here goes.

TJG – Thank you very much for the ideas, but I feel they might be a little too much in this story. I feel that Ranma already has a handle on how to infuse ki into other people directly so I don't feel he needs another convoluted method to do the same thing.

Rubel – After your kind words I thought I should explain why I've shaped her like this. In canon she's brash, sultry, abrasive, abusive and not to mention sadistic. Whether she has a softer side I haven't seen enough of the manga to say. Now my version is much different, anyone who read above will probably say WTF! Okay here's why. She basically hasn't had time to learn any coping skills, all of the named characteristics are designed to keep people off balance, or just to plain keep them away. At the point in time of this story she is still coming to terms with what happened to her and how people are treating her because of that. Now she has started learning some coping mechanisms, like she's discovered that overt sexuality can be used to manipulate guys, Ranma being a point in case, but she still hasn't had to deal with the long term negative opinion of villagers that shapes the rest of her. As with Naruto in canon she just needed one person to accept her for who she is, that person is, ta-dah Ranma.

Some of you are asking about pairings, well guess what if you guessed Anko or Kyu-chan then you're right. LOL.

Ranma stopped dead in the centre of an intersection and craned his neck both ways as he tried to figure out just where the hell he was now. His balance had been thrown a little when he stopped so abruptly that Anko Mitarashi had run into him, only to peer around him a moment later,

"Ranma? Where are we going?" She knew roughly where they were but she had no idea where he'd been leading her since they left the training ground. Peering closer at the strangely silent young man she could have sworn she saw a blush spread up his neck before he managed to turn away from her.

"Er, well you said something about food so…." he trailed off uncertainly.

"You don't have any idea do you?"

"Um, no….." Yep she thought to herself, he was definitely blushing as he turned a sheepish look in her direction, "Though it looks kind'a familiar around here, and I can smell something cooking." His stomach chose that moment to ask if his throat had been cut or something, it'd been several hours since he'd last eaten and that hadn't been a particularly large meal either. Now it was Anko's turn to go wide eyed and blush as she regarded Ranma in surprise.

"You want anything in particular, or are you happy with anything?"

"Anything, as long as it comes in large quantities."

"Alright that's just too easy," it was her turn to drag Ranma in her wake like a recalcitrant child as she headed for a little place she knew. Ranma wasn't sure where she was taking him but it didn't take long for the smell of good food to reach his nostrils as they closed in on a small restaurant, he read a fairly new sign out the front that read 'Ichiraku's Ramen' just before he was dragged through the curtain and into the brightly lit interior.

Inside proved to look almost as new as the sign outside, a number of booths along one wall and a number of tables scattered around the room along with a serving counter with tall stools that faced the kitchen where they could see the chef busy with several orders. Ranma saw many things he liked in this place, things he'd learned to look for in a restaurant, the décor was tasteful, the smell of ramen made his mouth water and then the clincher, the fact that most of the tables and booths were filled with customers slurping up noodles. None of whom appeared to be scowling in distaste at what was in their bowls.

"Hey this looks good Anko-chan, though I think we're gonna have to sit at the counter. That ain't gonna be a problem is it?"

"N-n-no, n-not at all," Anko couldn't help it, she still wasn't used to Ranma calling her Anko-chan.

"Great!" Ranma enthused totally oblivious to the carnage he was reaping with the young girls emotions, "Then let's grab a seat before anyone else comes in," he didn't waste any time putting action to his words and noted with a smile that Anko followed suit quickly. He hadn't been in his seat for more than a few seconds, long enough to note that the chef was very good, probably iron chef standard as he had eight gas burners on the go with what appeared to be six mains half completed and two tureens of prepared stock. The man was almost a blur as he switched between cooking and the cutting block across from it. It was fascinating stuff, Khu Lon cooked like this, well faster than this but then again she was an ancient martial artist with ki abilities that helped her to do what she did.

He was so engrossed in watching that he almost missed the tug on his trouser leg that alerted him to someone's trying to gain his attention and he looked around for the person only to see that no one was paying particular attention to him. He was just turning back to watch the chef again when the tug returned, this time accompanied by someone clearing their throat. In surprise Ranma looked down into the most innocent chocolate brown eyes he'd ever seen perched above a snub nose and the pink bow of her mouth underneath that was a stubborn looking chin, at least she looked stubborn as she cradled a couple of menus that hid the rest of her body from his view.

The little girl looked up at him expectantly as she struggled to hold out the two menus that were easily a third of her own height of three feet and nearly as wide. Not wanting the little girl to hurt herself Ranma reached down and relieved her of the heavy folders, "Thank you. What's your name?" Ranma leaned down a little so that he cold speak to the little girl, now that she wasn't holding the menus he could see that she had a pink apron on to match the bow in her dark brown hair over a white smock dress, and Ranma understood what adults meant when they said a girl was as cute as a button. She really was, and she was still looking up at Ranma as she formulated her reply.

"Hello," she chirped merrily, "I am Ayame, and I wul be you are Waitress to day!" she managed to get out with great deliberation and a frown that did nothing to detract form the fact she was cute, and the lisp as she said her prepared speech was even cuter. Both Anko and Ranma could hardly suppress their smiles as they surveyed their waitress. "Wood you like drinks?" she tilted her head to the side as she waited for their replies.

"Er, yeah, I'd like a green tea please," Ranma said, Anko chose the same. They were both surprised when they heard a faint clink behind them and turned to see that their drinks were already before them. An indignant voice cried out from between them.

"Daddy! You've gots to wait till I tell you!" she pouted as the man behind the counter chuckled softly. It didn't stop Ayame from trotting behind the counter to grab a small notepad and a pen, her 'job' apparently unfinished. The pad sat across her forearm and she gripped it tightly as she trotted back to them, the smile wasn't gone from her face for long as she came back to get their orders the pen held in her hand like a dagger she was going to stab someone with.

Ranma couldn't help it, he waited for her to come back and ask in her child-like adult voice, "What wood yoo like?"

"Um," Ranma hadn't looked at the menu yet he'd been so fascinated by the little girls antics as had Anko, they both hastily looked inside the leather bound menus and made quick decisions, "I'd like the Ultimate Ramen please," he answered seriously as if he weren't speaking to a four or five year old child and watched in interest as she placed pen to paper and made some squiggles, she was concentrating so hard she didn't realize that her tongue poked out the side of her mouth as she said allowed, "Ra-men," a little thought another squiggle and then, "Pork!" She finished writing with a flourish and then looked at Anko who was suppressing giggles for the first time in years. It took a moment for her to regain her composure, the impatient girls foot tapping didn't help, "And I'll have some bocchan dango."

Anko purposely ordered light since she wasn't really hungry, plus she really liked dango, she always had and she probably always would, she watched as the little girl made some more of her squiggles and then beamed as she called out, "D" the tip of her little pink tongue changed sides as she concentrated on her next kanji "-ango!" Anko wasn't the only one who liked dango, it might also explain why her father had made a hundred and six bowls of pork ramen so far that day since no one had the heart to argue with the little girl. Ayame skipped behind the counter and up to the man who was obviously her 'Daddy!' and held out the piece of paper that held their 'order'.

"Well hello there Ramen-hime, what have you got for me?" he took the paper from her and smiled as he placed it on a clip suspended from an order wheel before 'reading' it with great ceremony, "Hum, so that's what they want huh? Thank you very much sweetie, I'll get right on this. Why don't you do some colouring while you wait for the next customer?" he said with a smile though he was thinking 'victim' rather than customer.

"Oh-kay!" she grinned as she headed for a small desk on the far side of the kitchen away from all the hustle and bustle. The man, who had yet to introduce himself beamed with pride as he watched her go then turned back to putting the finishing touches on the dishes he was working on. A few moments later he returned from serving several tables and turned to face them while he started on their orders.

"Hey, I haven't seen you guys in here before?" The middle aged man smiled broadly, he had the kind of face that spoke well of his chosen profession. Dealing with people obviously suited him, the twinkle in his eye was an even better indication of his good humour. Though he was middle aged his dark hair was starting to turn silver at the temples in what he liked to call reaction to having an energetic daughter.

"Nope," Ranma said cheerfully, "I just moved here."

"Yes, I know how that is. After my wife…" he stopped for a moment, "After Ayame's mother…I needed a change from Torisu(1), me an the tyke have been here for a couple of years now."

Ranma looked at Anko askance, "Torisu?"

"Heck, you really did just move here didn't you. Must've been from clear out of the Elemental countries if'n you don't know the capital city of Fire country," the middle aged mans eyes crinkled as he smiled to show he wasn't trying to be offensive just making a point.

"You could say that," Ranma grinned right back while thinking, 'And it was probably a lot further than you're thinking, or maybe closer,' he stopped trying to figure it out before he got a headache. He was pretty surprised when a bowl suddenly appeared in front of him along with a plate of dango skewers for Anko he hadn't even seen the man finish preparing it. He was even more surprised when he saw that he'd gotten the ultimate Ramen he'd wanted, looking aside he almost burst out in hysterical laughter when he saw that Anko was doing a credible impression of a chipmunk with her bocchan dango with at least two of the dumplings stuffed into her cheeks.

She looked back at him, "Whu?" and then frowned as Ranma completely lost it.

Teuchi Ichiraku smiled at the antics of the couple, remembering the good times he'd spent with his wife. It was memories like that, plus his little bundle of energy that made his life worthwhile. He watched as Ranma picked himself up off the floor after Anko helped him on his way, he'd been laughing so hard that he hadn't been able to stop her either.

"I'm Teuchi Ichiraku, proud owner of Ichiraku's Ramen, purveyors of the finest ramen in Fire country." He reached out and shook Ranma's proffered hand.

"Ranma, and I'm not going to argue with you. That was some really good ramen." Both Anko and Teuchi glanced at Ranma's empty bowl and wondered just when in Sam-hill he'd managed to eat it. "So what do we owe you?" It wasn't that he wanted to leave so much as he had been isolated for nearly two months already and he really wanted to explore the place that would be his new home.

"Well let's see, there's forty mon for the dango, and seventy-eight for the ramen, so that's a grand total of one ryo and fifty eight mon. Less first time customer discount that comes to one ryo, forty." Ranma looked through the wallet he'd been given a couple of weeks before and pulled out a couple of ryo notes.(2)

"Keep the change, our waitress deserves a tip," he grinned along with Teuchi. Little did Ranma know that Teuchi's little waitress could put herself through college on the tips she was earning here. No one in the restaurant would have cared either way since she was just too damned cute and probably knew it.

"You ready to go Anko?"

"Er, yeah sure," she'd been hoping to settle down for a while after their spar and the walk into the village but Ranma proved to be a bundle of energy. Reaching out she snagged the last skewer of dango before turning around, "I'm ready. Let's go!"

/ Hyuga Compound \

"Damn you Hiashi, how could you leave me to deal with all this paper-work?" Hizashi yelled at his twin brother as he slapped the desk making the pile of finished documents jump slightly.

"To be honest Hizashi I would have preferred to stay here than deal with a full emergency council session."

"Oh? So what was so important that you had to rush out of here like that?"

"You might say it was a cleaning detail after Sarutobi gave a lesson."

"Bloody hell Hiashi, as cryptic as ever. Why don't you just do me a favour and tell me what's going on. What kind of lesson are we talking here?"

"It was an object lesson in politics, it even had visual aids." Hiashi's smirk was unpleasant to see but was soon matched by his twin brother as he figured out what he meant.

"So the Hokage lives up to his name, hmmm?"

"I'd say so, Sarutobi professed that he didn't appreciate sedition, and I think his student got the point." Hiashi moved across the study to the drinks cabinet and pulled it open. "Sake?"

"Hm, don't mind if I do. So who was it?"

"You remember Kohiko?"

"Yeah, boring little dweeb, not the brightest star in the Toriumi clan if I remember right."

"That's him. Not just boring either, he's unlucky. Telling Sarutobi that the council hadn't ratified his title and that he was to stand down probably wasn't a good idea, but I get the feeling Sarutobi was thinking of other things at the time. He seems to be focused on some other problem."

"What gives you that idea?"

"Well, let's face facts. He's not usually that blunt with his actions, he's usually more of a political scalpel than a cudgel. Though I have to say I don't think anyone's going to miss Kohiko too much.

"Oooh, I bet that'll go down well, his clan is sure to be pissed regardless. There's too much mileage in having the leader of the village kill a clan member."

"Actually I don't think there'll be much in the way of repercussions. The clan knew he wasn't particularly bright, that's why they shunted him away from the family business. Dim-witted traders aren't all that common."

"Yes but the council?"

"Oh yes, plenty of dull witted council members I assure you."

"Well yes, but I'm sure they forgive you."

"You want to drink this sake or wear it?"

"Now, now brother dearest it will prove totally un-necessary to waste such nectar."

"Then I suppose I'd better drink it all since it'd be a total waste to let a buffoon like you have any."

"That's it! You, me, outside, spar, ten minutes!" Hizashi leapt to his feet and made his way towards his brother.

"Oh shut up and drink your sake!" Hiashi handed him a saucer and a bottle with a grin only to be pointed at.

"You're not trying to poison me with that rice vinegar again are you?"

"I did no such thing! You came to dinner drunk, I can't help it if you couldn't see clearly and picked up the wrong bottle."

"…..Well you sure didn't stop me!"

"And why would I want to do that? It was so much fun watching the expression on your face." Hiashi chuckled at the sour expression on his brothers face.

"I don't think I ever sobered up as quickly as that either," Hizashi gave him a rueful look.

"That reminds me, I never did pay you back for spraying my wife with rice vinegar did I?" the clan leader cracked his knuckles as he moved across the room.

"Oh come off it, that was three months ago!"

"Ah, but brother mine, you should know that the vengeance of heaven is slow, but sure." He hadn't stopped moving as he spoke and had the satisfaction of watching Hizashi hurriedly putting his sake dish aside and springing to his feet before he turned towards his desk. "Unfortunately I have paperwork to do."

"Damn it Hiashi just spar me already. Besides I already did all the paperwork."

"If only," the elder brother said as he rolled his eyes, "sadly, Sarutobi's actions earlier have opened up a whole new can of worms. It seems that Kohiko and his cronies were rorting the council, issuing contracts with extremely 'favourable' terms to friends and family. Certain members of the high council have been 'requested' to assist the search for these agreements and help neutralize them."

"But Kohiko was on the council for nearly five years!" He groaned as he thought of all the paperwork the council could generate in a couple of days let alone a year.

"I did mention there was a lot of paperwork to go through didn't I?"

"But isn't that what clerks are for?"

"Yes, and I will use Hyuga clerks, but…there are trust issues with the councils clerks, they may not be as honest as they should. Anyway, there goes my free time," he snorted, 'as if I have any.'

"Sometimes I don't envy you brother. Just ten minutes sooner and I'd be having all your problems," he snickered evilly.

"Oh but brother, you do remember that I'm the clan head? Maybe you're right I should delegate more often,"

"I've got a better idea."

"Hmmm?"

"Set Haruka on the Hokage, I'm sure he'd back down in short order."

"I heard that!" the words still managed to sound threatening for all they were softly spoken. Both brothers swung towards the door as it opened.

"Why Haruka dear, I didn't 'see' you there!" Hizashi stated innocently, though for some reason no one believed him. No one can sneak up on a Hyuga, it's the whole 'I can see through the back of my head' thing, doors and walls are likewise no obstacle to their vision as they are softer in some people's opinion than the average Hyuga skull.

"Stow it Hizashi. So husband when are you coming to spar with me?" she turned a pleasant smile on the clans leader.

"I'm afraid something's come up dear," he'd gotten up from his chair and moved to engulf her rotund figure in a hug and gave her a swift kiss, "Sarutobi's clerks should be here with some paperwork shortly."

"Clerks? As in more than one?" she asked sounding a little dismayed that her time with her spouse was going to be curtailed.

"Yes," he sighed again, sometimes he wished he'd been born ten minutes later then all this would be Hizashi's problem.

"Well I suppose I'll just have to take second best. Hizashi, meet me in the training hall. You have ten minutes and then I'll come looking for you." She left the threat hanging but both Hyuga siblings knew it wasn't an idle threat, she'd been getting restless for the last month or so and her pregnancy wasn't helping.

"Save me brother! She's going to kick my arse!" Hizashi knelt down to his brother before grasping the hem of his jacket in mock terror.

"Damn straight I am. Unlike my husbands vengeance mine is swift." With that she left the room, leaving both men to wonder just how she'd managed to hear that part of their conversation, and if she had, how much of the rest of it she'd heard.

"You know brother sometimes I envy you greatly."

"You'd better not be referring to my wife or she won't be the only one to kick your arse today, and if I tell your wife I'm pretty sure I can make it three for three."

"What's one more, it seems everyone wants a piece of me today." He smirked as his brother glowered at him. "Oops, seems I'd better go, I wouldn't want Haruka to feel the need to come looking for me," he said as he sauntered from the room. Hiashi decided the paperwork could wait after all, he was going to watch his sweet, demure wife kick his brothers arse into next week with a great deal of relish.

Staring through the house he ignored the women's baths and the number of people who were there. Hyuga clan members were not really sure of the meaning of certain words, words like modesty, shy, bashful and retiring. When you have no trouble seeing through things it seems a little silly to be worried about such hang-ups and the clan members tended towards casual nudity, only ever really worrying about such things when they were in public.

He smiled a few minutes later when they started their spar. A few moments later he covered his groin and winced, his brother looked too much like himself for him not to have felt that. Though he'd have to explain to Haruka later that putting her foot there was not an accepted part of the Jyuuken style.

/ Sarutobi's office \

Hiashi wouldn't have been too astounded to find he was right, the Hokage was currently extremely pre-occupied with matters outside of the village. If the reports he was reading were correct then tension on the Earth-Fire border was increasing, well for all intents and purposes it was the Rice, Rain and Waterfall border but those minor lands were hardly the deterrent they were supposed to be. Raids across into Fire country were on the rise and all the evidence pointed at their long-time enemies from Iwagakure. The trouble with obvious evidence was that ninja didn't leave it very often, unless a) they wanted you to think that it was someone else or b) they wanted you to think it was someone else trying to make it look like someone else.

He often said you needed to 'see underneath the underneath', the problem was sometimes it was hard to figure out just how many underneath's there were. Jiraiya's information network proved invaluable in fathoming just such things, but it wasn't infallible. Like right now, there were rumours of war, again there was nothing unusual in that, there were always such rumours. The trouble was in the sheer number of rumours, according to the fabled 'Them', Konohagakure was going to be attacked by the whole world, or maybe the other way around, or maybe Konoha had nothing to do with it, or maybe it was going to be a civilian war, or maybe…. The report on his desk was almost as thick as his wrist and it was the fourth one he'd received in a month.

Jiraiya had an extensive network of informers and spies and currently they were no help what-so-ever as they were too busy backtracking rumours and discrediting the more fanciful. They had uncovered several key facts though, each of their neighbours was readying itself for battle, the surprises were that Iwa was feverishly doing so. If they were, as the evidence indicated, raiding across the Fire country border then they were eminently unprepared for repercussions and desperately trying to make up for it.

Now all he could do was wait for the situation to clarify itself and prepare as best he could. They'd already doubled patrols along the border but the raids still happened, sometimes as far as a hundred miles into fire country. So far they were holding themselves to attacking trade caravans and tiny hamlets and they were following a strict regimen of leaving very few survivors. There had only been seven attacks so far and three survivors, but it was just a matter of time before things escalated further.

So far their only answer was to place small delaying forces at strategic spots. What they needed more than anything was information, reliable information.

That was another matter that was complicating their current situation, for the first time they had reliable information on one of the Elemental countries most notorious secret societies. A shadowy group of ten or more of the most dangerous missing nin had joined together for an unspecified agenda. None of the members were currently known but they finally had a name for the organisation. Apparently they called themselves Akatsuki. The fact that the estimated numbers for the group matched the report that Ranma had given on the reason why Kyuubi had attacked the village gave him hope that they might soon have some faces and names to go with the name of the organisation.

He'd ask Ranma tomorrow after they finished the final two tests they had planned. He didn't really feel the need to test Ranma further but as everyone seemed to benefit from it he'd allow it to continue. Further thought on the current situation they found themselves in was curtailed when someone knocked at his door.

"Come in," it wasn't a matter of lax security for the Hokage to invite someone into his inner sanctum without a full security check. It was more that anyone who had managed to get this far was either official, which he really wished his ANBU would stop, with lethal force if necessary as it'd really cut down on his workload, or the infiltrator was good enough to deceive the best ninja in the village, an unlikely proposition at best. He was unsurprised when the door opened and revealed his secretary. "Yes?"

"Sir, Hiashi Hyuga is here to see you."

"Ah is that so? Then you'd better send him in hadn't you?" The man disappeared and was replaced by Hiashi who released a small amount of smoke as he appeared. "You do realize he'll never forgive you for that don't you?"

"He'll get over it, it's not like I put him on the roof this time," the clan leader smirked as he remembered a particular prank he and his brother had played on the hapless man who'd come through the academy with them.

"Maybe….So what do I owe the pleasure of this visit to?"

"I have received reports from clan members on our northern border concerning an escalation of raiding."

"Damn it Hiashi, I swear your information network is almost as good as Jiraiya's," he'd been hoping to keep knowledge of the impending war from people for a while until they had a better understanding of who they faced, or any understanding at all for that matter.

"Hardly, it's not as extensive since it only extends where my family is stationed."

"That's damn far enough as far as I'm concerned. Fine so you know, what is it you want?"

"Me? Nothing, I was unaware if you had been informed as yet and if so just how much you knew."

"I know enough that what I do know doesn't sit well with me. The evidence we've been presented is too obvious, it's as if someone dotted all the i's and crossed all their t's and expected us to just say, 'Oh look it must be Iwa attacking us again!' The problem Hiashi is that we can't afford to discount the possibility it is them!" Sarutobi slammed his fist into the surface of his desk in frustration then reached out to stop his crystal ball from rolling off the edge.

"Hmm, not an easy situation I'm sure, but we've come through worse. I dare say you've been expecting something like this for the longest time anyway?"

"Well yes, I have but now that's it's happening I can't say that I'm as prepared as I hoped to be. We'd have been better off if Kyuubi had never attacked."

"That goes without saying Hokage-sama, but it did and now we have to deal with it. You know how best to deal with a giant don't you?"

"Yes, unfortunately our track record isn't so great at the moment."

"We beat the demon in the end though. I believe that our enemies hope that a war of attrition will bring us down, and I fear they may be correct."

"I know this, it's why Jiraiya is destroying his information network to gather information, assets he's had for decades are now vulnerable because of it."

"Maybe looking at who else is preparing for war?"

"Already done, everyone is making preparations in case war spills over onto their doorsteps," the old man sighed disgustedly.

"Maybe someone who is more prepared than they should be?" Sarutobi looked thoughtful as he considered Hiashi's words before his eyes widened and he scrabbled amongst the reports that littered his desk. Grabbing a file he flipped it open and scanned the text for what he wanted and Hiashi had to suppress a shudder at the evil grin on his leaders face.

"Hiashi, you're a genius!"

"I know, it goes with being a Hyuga, you know that." He'd always felt an undeniable pride that his clan was one of the strongest in Konoha, heck, it was one of the strongest in the Elemental countries.

"It's not proof as such but it gives us a true starting point. Tomuma, get in here now!" Reaching for a pad he drew the quill he wrote with and scribbled a quick set of instructions.

"Hai Hokage-sama?" the harried man threw a hateful glare at Hiashi. He hadn't forgiven being kawarimi'd back to his office, not since Hiashi had been stuck to the ceiling when he made the switch and thus Seki hadn't been prepared to adhere to the surface and had crashed into the ground a few moments later.

"See that this is given to the elder Morino, he'll know what to do. This is a priority one, it waits for no one and nothing."

"Hai," Seki Tomumi left the room under his own power as he shunshin'd across a fifth of the village only to repeat it again three more times in his search for the requested man.

"I'm so grateful, I could kiss you!" Sarutobi announced as he turned to the younger man left in his presence and smiled as he took a step back.

"I'd rather you didn't, but if you're feeling grateful I'm sure I can think of some favours you could do for the clan."

"Such as?"

"Well….I'm going to need Minato's seal scrolls for a start." The Hokage gazed at him for a moment before speaking.

"It's a little too early to be training the boy isn't it?"

"Yes, I know that, but if I understand Minato's blood-limit then it doesn't act like the others. If I understand correctly it is active from birth?" he waited for acknowledgment before continuing, "In that case I think it wise that the clan have at least an understanding of what we'll be facing as he grows. Plus we'll need a fighting chance at being able to undo what he does."

"If it's any consolation he won't be able to do very much until he's about seven or so. It'll give you time to instil a sense of propriety into him," he looked up and realized his words weren't reassuring the other man as much as he'd hoped, "But I'll get you a copy of the scrolls as soon as possible."

"Thank you sir it'll be much appreciated. I'm fighting enough of a battle with the clan elders as it is without the child causing damage as well."

"I always thought you were the ultimate authority in the clan?"

"I am, but that doesn't mean they can't make life miserable for me and everyone around me. I'd rather avoid it if I can. Being attacked by a bunch of crotchety Hyuga elders isn't high on my 'to do' list."

"Or a bunch of crotchety Hyuga adults and children," Sarutobi muttered under his breath just loud enough for Hiashi to overhear.

Hiashi chose to ignore the comment as jealousy, after all it wasn't the Hyuga's fault that they knew their place in the village and acted accordingly

"Speaking of the child, how is that going?"

"Quite well, in fact we haven't had to protect him yet. Though there was one attempted infiltration in the second week. A jounin attempted to enter the building, for what purpose we don't know, but the guards left him hung from the main-gate by his feet, they closed just enough tenketsu that he wouldn't be able to jutsu his way out of it and then left him there for a day with a sign stating that this was the fate of people attempting to enter the Hyuga compound unannounced." The Hokage let forth a dignified chuckle at the plight of the stupid jounin.

"So did you get a name for this jounin. It might behove me to ask certain 'pointed' questions."

"No, the guards left him there until dusk and then cut him down, ungently as I understand it. No one has seen this ninja since."

"Has it occurred to you that Naruto may not have been the target?"

"Of course and if there had of been anything conclusive then he would have died. As it is we felt that since we'd lost so much strength to Kyuubi that it might be better to leave one of our jounin alive, even if he is probably terminally stupid for infiltrating our home."

"Either that or not from around here," Sarutobi left the disturbing sentence hanging.

"Maybe you were right, a few of those pointed questions you mentioned might have been useful. I shall inform the guard that the next time they shall turn the prisoner over to interrogation regardless."

"Good. Now on to more pleasant concerns. How is your wife?"

"Haruka? Ah, Haruka is testy at the moment," at Sarutobi's raised eyebrow he continued, "As you know she'd seven months pregnant?"

"Yes."

"Well it seems that no one will fight her seriously, for very good reason I might add since they know I'd kill them. Well it came to a head today when my so unwise sibling managed to aggravate her. She proceeded to trounce him in a one sided spar, the medics say he'll be fine in a couple of days but I fear the damage is done," he chuckled as he remembered the scene that afternoon, he and Haruka had entered the meeting rooms for their daily reports, when Hizashi had seen the clan leader's wife he'd whimpered like a kicked puppy and asked to be excused.

"Ah, nothing fatal I hope."

"No, only to his ego. Oh one last thing before I go…."

"Yes?" Sarutobi asked resignedly.

"I've been thinking. This strange group of missing nin, Akatsuki I think they're called?"

"Hiashi! Stop reading my reports!" Sarutobi picked up the pile of files strewn across his desk and shoved them unceremoniously into a sealed drawer that even the Byakougan couldn't 'see' inside.

"What? I was just trying to be helpful. I mean the name just kind of jumped out at me. If I remember it my father mentioned the word a few times when I was a child. Though it didn't have anything to do with missing nin. I think it was something religious, I didn't pay much attention I have to admit I found my old man a bit of a bore…." Hiashi failed to finish his soliloquy as he found himself in a crushing hug a quarter second later he received the threatened kiss from his Hokage. The old man was chuckling evilly as he strolled from the room, he had a second lead to follow up and it was all thanks to Hiashi Hyuga.

The Hyuga clan leader glared at the closed door and growled out at the top of his lungs, "Damn you old man! A simple thanks would have been better!" A moment later the room was empty as he went in search of sake and blessed forgetfulness. Cursing the spirit of Konoha that made so many of them inveterate pranksters or eccentric in the extreme.

/ Hokage monument \

The person currently most on Sarutobi's mind was ironically at that point in time sitting on the Sandaime's head and fearing for his life. Anko had insisted that no tour of the village was complete without checking the view from the top of the Hokage monument, the villages tribute to past and present leaders. Ranma thought it looked a lot like a place he'd seen in pictures on his own world, though he couldn't for the life of him remember what it'd been called.

She'd been right as it turned out, the view was well worth the climb. He could see a great deal of the village and even much of the forest that surrounded the village. Of course it wasn't as good as the view he'd had when he first arrived but it was still impressive. The reason he feared for his life was that his friend was currently leaned up against his side, fast asleep with her head resting on his shoulder.

Now Ranma wasn't a fool, he knew that the second she woke up she was going to pound him for taking liberties and there was nothing he could say that would deter her. It'd happened in the past too many times for him to believe anything else would happen in this situation. They'd been like this for nearly half an hour now and the sun was beginning to set tingeing the world in shades of red and gold. He could honestly say that it was one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen, and no matter the consequences he wanted to share it with someone.

"Anko? Anko-chan?" he turned to watch her as she woke and decided that he might leave her to sleep after all. In sleep there was a softness about her that disappeared when she was awake, a hidden tension that was missing. It gave her a child-like innocence instead of the jaded adult wariness that she showed the world. He might of Decided to leave her alone for the moment but it proved to be too late as her eyes were already opening and blinking sleepily in the bright light of the waning day.

"Uh Ranma?"

"Hey there sleepy head," he said as casually as he could, as though he wasn't expecting his doom to befall him any second. Akane would have loved this place, she could have gotten record distance from this altitude.

Anko looked chagrined for a moment as she realized that she had indeed fallen asleep in his company. She couldn't believe she could do that, not the falling asleep due to fatigue but the falling asleep while someone was this close to her. She hadn't felt safe enough to do that in a long time and it was one of the reasons she'd been glad when she'd been promoted to chounin, it allowed her to work alone. Now here she was not just sleeping in Ranma's presence but also draped all over him. The blush she felt coming seemed to start at the bottom of her feet and work its way up in a display that would rival the setting sun. 'Setting sun? Oh crud it's getting late,'

"Um, Ranma, maybe we should go now? Before it gets dark I mean." Ranma blinked at the suggestion suddenly realizing that he wasn't going to get pounded, lynched or otherwise harmed. This of course led to many other thoughts that pertained to the natural order of things. One thing that he could now think without any fear was that it had been nice, the feel of her leaning against him as the gentle afternoon breeze washed across them. That and the fact that she must trust him on some level if she was willing to sleep in his presence.

"Yeah, maybe. Anko-chan, do you mind if we just wait here until the sun goes down?" It took him a moment to realize that she must have agreed when she lay her head back down on his shoulder and relaxed.

"Sure, but if we fall off of here when we leave I'll kill you!" from the tone of her voice he could tell she was only half teasing. He was about to take his arm from around her shoulders when he felt her hand come to rest on his own stopping him from doing so and he wondered just what in the hell that could mean.

It was almost an hour later that they separated to head for their homes, Ranma didn't know what he felt at the moment but he was going to find a nice quiet place for some meditation, that and have words with a certain baka-fox.

Anko on the other hand knew just what she was feeling, now that she was away from the boy, she was scared spit-less. She hadn't let anyone get that close to her in the better part of a year, she certainly hadn't spoken about herself to anyone in that time, other than the inevitable interrogation. Luckily for her she'd chosen to give a detailed report, she'd left nothing out, not a thing no matter how uncomfortable it made her. Her betrayal had been fresh at that stage and she'd wanted to strike out at the man responsible, unfortunately she didn't know very much about what he was doing.

Now along comes this pretty boy of a martial arts prodigy with an ego the size of the mountain they'd just left and she'd let her guard down. She knew just what that meant, it meant she had too much free time on her hands and she was going to rectify that tomorrow, if not sooner. Decision made Anko Mitarashi moved purposefully towards her apartment, stoically ignoring the tiny voice in her head that accused her of running away.

/ Training ground eighteen \

The next day dawned brightly as the sun crested the horizon, and got brighter a moment later as Kakashi called out, "Fire release: Grand fireball technique." He'd just opened his mouth to release the flame when a wall of dirt and rock shards slammed into him. He was rueing the fact that he hadn't taken his opponent seriously enough to activate his sharingan, but he'd assumed that since the man had no chakra to speak of that he was limited to the physical arts.

Sarutobi had even given him the benefit of letting him read the test reports for the previous spar and he'd chosen to ignore the warning. If for some reason it looked like he might lose he'd activate his sharingan and the fight would be over bar the shouting or in Ranma's case the crying. After all the sharingan was the ultimate doujutsu in Obito's opinion and that was good enough for Kakashiss.

Anko wasn't watching the platinum haired Uchiha wannabe though, she was watching the boy she'd spent last night with. She blushed at the implications, wrong mind you, of what she'd just thought. She'd spent the night alone as usual, staring up at the ceiling as she thought about the fact that she'd never actually felt alone before.

Since she was watching Ranma she clearly saw him strike the ground, strike was the wrong word here though, she was pretty damned sure he'd barely brushed a finger across it and then the ground had exploded. She hadn't felt a surge of chakra at all, though there might have been something, she felt the memory tickle the back of her mind as it fought for release. What was it, 'Oh yeah, he uses ki by itself. Shit! If ki can do things like that then I need to know more.' For the moment she'd forgotten her need to get away from Ranma's influence when there was a chance she could learn something that might get her some respect as a kunoichi. Kunoichi were something of a running joke when it came to combat, they were told from the start of their training that they were unsuited to the rigours of the battlefield. Even the likes of Tsunade hadn't altered that perception. She'd been dealt with, with respect due to her power but not as a ninja, this had led to a shortened temper on Tsunade's part, an act that had led to kunoichi being treated with even less respect as male ninja added 'temperamental' to the list of kunoichi attributes. One thing Anko would say for Orochimaru, even if she hated the mans guts, he never treated her as less than anyone else, but then she supposed it was easy to do that when everyone was a potential experiment.

If what Ranma had just done was an Earth technique then it was new to her since it didn't use a skerrick of chakra and he hadn't bothered to call out an attack name. That meant that he must be intimately acquainted with the technique since only the most skilled could get away without using hand-signs and/or stating the name of the attack as a matter of focus. That kind of skill usually came with great age, hence it being so rare. She knew for a fact that Sarutobi-sama rarely used hand-signs in battle unless he was hard pressed. Not that there was much call for an Hokage to battle much, but she'd seen him when Kyuubi attacked and she had to admit she knew why he scared Orochimaru so badly. The man was a juggernaut in battle even if it hadn't done any good against the demon fox in the end.

As it was she was going to watch Ranma closely through this battle and see just how strong he really was, that wall of dirt and rock that just washed over Kakashi was a good start as far as she was concerned, the guy's new arrogance since he'd gained his doujutsu was grating to say the least and she'd love to see him taken down a peg or three.

Ranma watched the self-proclaimed 'Copy nin' as he started making hand-signs, he didn't know what they were for but he was taking careful note of the chakra flows with his 'sight', he'd remember it for later practice. He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. He was also looking for something in particular, the ground here wasn't particularly rocky but it did have a few sub-surface boulders of a fair size that he could use, and if he was any judge, now would be a good time. Imbuing his finger with a small amount of ki he plunged it into the breaking point for a rock about ten feet below the surface and watched in satisfaction as the ground exploded in all directions. An interesting by-product of using subterranean rocks was that the soil cushioned the practitioner somewhat from the shards of rock, though once they were out of the ground by about three metres they were their usually deadly projectile selves.

Kakashi swallowed a mouthful of the dirt at the same time as his fire technique was bursting to get out of his mouth, which proved to be a bad combination. Earth was the natural enemy of fire, and it extinguished the flames, but not before they singed the person who'd called them, he was going to need a medic after this to deal with the internal damage. Ignoring the painful burns Kakashi had almost managed to kawarimi out of the blast zone when the first of many rock shards slammed into him. He managed to maintain his concentration and completed his technique but he'd taken some damage from whatever Ranma had done. Kevlar isn't designed to stop knives, just high speed tumbling objects. The ninja had made the safety of a tree roughly forty feet from his starting point, it was somewhere he could plan the next move out of Ranma's line of sight. Peering through the dense foliage he was shocked to see Ranma looking directly towards him.

'Fuck, he can see me? How? I've got my chakra suppressed.' Kakashi was shocked that he could be detected, he'd made the same mistake as most ninja when suppressing what they thought was important, which was alright when dealing with a lot of other ninja who thought the same way. Ranma didn't think like that though and could see Kakashi's shen signature as if he'd put up a sign saying 'Kakashi hiding here' and a big arrow.

Ranma moved his arms in a rapid swing and repeated the move at slightly different angles several times so fast that Kakashi could barely see it even with the sharingan that he'd hastily activated when he finally decided to take his opponent seriously(read got his ass handed to him). The problem was he suffered from another common affliction of ninja, they don't bother to develop anything other than chakra senses, and since the sharingan only worked on chakra he had no indication that there was any danger involved in those hands and their supposedly erratic movement.

The pig-tailed martial artist hadn't expected his adversary to stay still but wasn't above taking advantage of it. As he really wasn't trying to kill his opponent he aimed the air blades at the foliage surrounding Kakashi. Kakashi was about to learn why it wasn't a good idea to stand still in a battle with Ranma. The tree around the jounin received a sudden pruning as several invisible blades of compressed air slashed through it leaving a startled Kakashi suspended in mid-air for a split second before gravity exerted its toll. Not that it did any damage to him and he'd started to form signs as he fell. Launching fire type attacks left and right as he touched the ground and sprang away with his lesson learned. After twelve or so air blades Kakashi had the hang of watching Ranma's hands, and within another three he'd figured out where each blade was going and avoided them with a greater margin of error each time.

As Ranma considered a wave of flame that was heading in his direction and came to the conclusion that while it had plenty of power overall the fire wasn't nearly as intense as Saffron's attacks and as such he could safely use the 'Soul of ice' to neutralize the incoming attacks.

Sarutobi watched as a sheet of fire washed over the boy he was coming to respect more and more with a certain degree of worry, Kakashi might have been young, but that didn't mean he was weak and he had a fire affinity to go along with his lightning affinity. When the fire passed he expected Ranma to have moved elsewhere rather than take the brunt of the damage. He was shocked, an emotion he felt he should become used to where Ranma was concerned. When the area where Ranma was standing came into plain sight again he was still standing in the exact same place. At first the old man thought that Ranma might be playing mind games with Kakashi by switching out and then returning when the attack was over to give the impression that he'd stayed, but that thought died a quick death when he noticed a distortion of the air around Kakashi's target. Squinting allowed him to see the distortion better and he could see that whatever it was glowing a pale blue, while the scorched earth at his feet stopped exactly where the blue aura began. He tagged this to the ever growing list of questions that he needed to ask Ranma when they had a quiet moment.

Kakashi was beginning to wonder just what the hell he'd gotten himself into. When he'd first arrived at the training ground that morning he'd done exactly the same as he'd done the first time he'd met Ranma and dismissed him as a threat. The young man had no chakra and he'd wondered several times if the Hokage had finally lost it by sponsoring someone that old into the ninja academy. Then the old man had increased his incredulity when he'd requested a number of tests to gauge Ranma's skill level, and he'd be honest the results had been surprising even if he did end up dismissing them as inconsequential. Of the two he'd tested against before, neither of them had a blood-limit. While he didn't have one either he did have access to the culmination of one, his left eye which was donated by his deceased team-mate Obito gave him an unholy advantage when in a battle situation. He wasn't named the 'Copy nin' for nothing after all. He was a feared 'A' class ninja at the age of fourteen, and he should be wiping the floor with his opponent since he wasn't even a ninja.

Truth be told the fight wasn't going his way at all, he hadn't even gotten close with any of his fire techniques, lightning had met the same fate. He was getting to the point where he was going to need a soldier pill if he wanted to stand a chance in this fight. Ranma wasn't even breathing hard which wasn't surprising since he hadn't moved during the entire match. A short while later he popped the pill and sighed in relief when his energy started to return.

'Alright fire and lightning haven't worked,' he rolled right to avoid another of those wind blades, 'so I've got to figure out what to do.' A few rolls and a flip into a tree later he thought he had the workings of a plan. He discounted the thought of going underground to use his 'Inner decapitation' technique since he was pretty sure the pig-tailed guy could tell exactly where he was and he didn't even want to contemplate what would happen if he used that exploding earth thing while either of them were underground. That left his stone wall attack, alright it was traditionally a defense but when it dropped on someone he was sure they'd count it as offensive. Leaping from the tree towards Ranma he struck the earth and forced chakra into it then watched in satisfaction as Ranma's eyes widened as a slab of stone weighing about fifty tons rose from the forest floor and teetered over him like a tidal wave.

Kakashi was wrong however in thinking it was fear that widened his foes eyes. It was more like Ranma thought all his Christmas's had come at once. It seemed like the ninja hadn't understood what the Bakusai Tenketsu entailed at all if he was going to give him such a large rock to play with. For the first time in the battle he moved, he leapt towards the descending rock and had the satisfaction of watching Kakashi's eyes widen as he realised just what was about to happen. Sarutobi dragged Kurenai and Anko further into the tree-line and hoped that the intervening trees would protect them from the shard storm.

The masked ninja shuddered as he watched the destruction as the explosion of rock widened the clearing by another thirty feet as shards of rock, some up to three feet in length smashed the trees into tooth-pick sized splinters, including the log he'd switched out with. He quickly scratched earth type jutsu from those he could safely use, he simply couldn't believe that the person he was fighting didn't seem to have any weaknesses. The only thing he had left were his water techniques, well there was one other he hadn't tried yet. Waiting for the air to clear of debris so he could actually see his opponent he began to gather chakra for his ultimate attack

The Hokage felt the build up of a technique that he never thought would be used in a test like this, he'd never believe that Kakashi would use something so dangerous just because…

"Kakashi! Stop! I won't allow the use of Chidori," There was a instant where he thought his predecessors protégé might ignore him but he sighed in relief when he felt the chakra disperse. The feeling only lasted a moment as he was lambasted by the person who would have been on the receiving end of Kakashi's attack.

"Hey old man, what do you think you're doing? I thought he was about to get serious…." Everyone stared at him in shock at the implication that he thought that Kakashi had been holding back up till now, or that they'd just been playing.

"Ranma, the technique he was about to use is an assassination technique. It is hardly proper to use it in these circumstances."

"I don't have a problem with it, I mean it ain't as if people haven't been trying to kill me most of my life or nuthin'." The Sandaime Hokage mulled over the request for a moment and decided he was more curious about the outcome of the contest than he was worried for Ranma, not that he didn't worry it was just another aspect of the test and both parties agreed so…..

"I will allow this, Kakashi you have one attempt at Chidori and then you'll have to go back to normal jutsu. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir!"

"Don't bother to try for a second one as I know you don't have the chakra for two Chidori in a row, and I will not allow the taking of a second soldier pill." Kakashi was chagrined as the old man showed that while he was going to allow him to use his best attack that he couldn't hide his chakra depletion from a kage level ninja.

"Then I'd better make this one count hadn't I?" Crouching low in what looked like a sprinters starting position he cupped his left hand about six inches from his chest and started to call up the chakra needed for the Chidori. clenching his fingers towards his palm tiny bolts of lightning started to arc between the tips until they neared his palm and a massive arc of energy lanced into his palm only to be cycled again and a again with a chirping sound. When it hit critical mass, the point where it skated the edge of his chakra control, he began to move, pushing chakra into the softened earth from all the explosions he solidified his push-off point.

Ranma watched all of this impassively, it would be wrong to say he wasn't taking it seriously though, he had noted how the chakra was formed and what Kakashi did withit afterwards. He figured that it was a speed based technique from the blondes stance but as he left his starting position Ranma noticed that to maintain acceleration he allowed his body to maintain a balance where his speed became the only thing stopping gravity from exerting its grip on him. That meant that while he was moving at great speed he was also extremely unbalanced. How they could call such a technique an assassination technique he would never know. The noise alone would make it useless in Ranma's opinion.

Forming the smallest Mouko Takabisha he had ever attempted he released it at Kakashi's feet and watched as the tiny explosion proved all that was needed to face plant his foe into the soft loam. Luckily Kakashi hadn't landed on his hands as he'd thrown them both out to break his fall, the second his hand touched the ground the electricity dispersed into the earth with an explosion of super-heated soil and steam and enough force to flip the jounin end for end with a startled yelp.

Kakashi lay flat on his back staring into the sky, he noted idly that he couldn't hear anything the sound of the detonation had been so loud and sharp. All he could here was a ringing sound that caused his eyes to water and his stomach to heave as it tried to figure which way was up since his inner balance was so disrupted. A few seconds or maybe an eternity later a face appeared above him looking down at him.

"Aaaaarrreeee yoooouuuuu aaallrriigggghtttt? Kkkaaakkaashi? Are yoooouuuuuu gettingggggg uuup aannyyyytime soon?" A hand joined the face and reached down and grabbed him, he almost lost control and vomited on the person as they dragged him upright and then to his feet where he swayed unsteadily.

"Yeah, I'm alright," at least that's what he thought he said but by the puzzled expression on Ranma's face he could have been wrong. He certainly wasn't standing upright without assistance, for the second that Ranma let go of his shoulder he staggered to the right like a drunken sailor and promptly sat back down.

"**Yeah an' I believe ya, now hold on a second," Ranma held his hands to either side of his opponents head and leaked shen into the damaged centres he could feel, he felt confident that while it would use a lot of shen to force a regeneration of the tiny bone filaments that picked up sound, it wouldn't take even a tenth of his total shen stores now.**

**Kakashi was startled when the ringing in his ears abated suddenly and his balance returned to normal, he'd seen the pig-tailed youth use healing chakra before but he didn't think he needed things to go that far, he'd have been alright after a little while he was sure of it.**

"**Thanks for that Ranma but I'm pretty sure I would have been fine," Kakashi regarded him silently as he felt three other chakra sources approach.**

**Sarutobi crouched down to the masked leaf nin and checked him with his 'sight' even going so far as to checking his pupil dilation and reactions. "You'll be fine now," and snorted at Kakashi's look that clearly said, 'I knew that.'**

"**I don't think you understand just what happened to you Kakashi. If this had been left untreated you'd have been mostly deaf for the rest of your life. Do you want to know the life expectancy of a deaf ninja? By the look on your face I assume I don't need to elaborate? Good, now this fight is over, I have seen enough for the moment and I can place Ranma's abilities," the old man frowned as he took in the rebellious slant of the young boy his student had taken on a couple of years ago.**

"**Uh-uh, I've still got one element I haven't tried and I can't miss from here," he rapidly formed hand-seals before yelling, "Water style: Water missile!" He tracked a rapidly backpedalling Ranma before releasing the technique at point blank range.**

**Ranma had a moment to realize what was about to happen and yelled out, "That'd damn well better be hot…..Gaaaaah!" she screeched as the cold water enveloped her chest, pushing against her it forced the shirt she wore to tear as the wooden toggles flew in all directions. The 'Copy nin' almost died in that moment as his eyes nearly exploded out of his head and a good portion of his blood succeeded to escape his nose just before he passed out. Sarutobi was a little more jaded where this young lady was concerned, he'd told Ranma he should tell these ninja about his curse but he supposed this would have to do, just before he joined Kakashi in unconsciosness. The boy turned girl scrambled to reassemble her shirt so that at least she wasn't flashing everyone and adding to the list of offences she'd incurred.**

**A chortling voice in the back of his mind broke her silence, "Perfect K.O., Fatality!" Kyu crowed exulting in the carnage a little cleavage, she paused and then admitted, well a lot of cleavage could cause. Ranma wasn't ready to join in any victory dances since he found himself in the vicinity of two women he hardly knew who'd just found out about his curse in the worse possible way.**

**The two women looked on at the carnage and rolled their eyes, Anko said it best when she muttered a heart felt, "Men!" before turning her eyes to a now extremely female Ranma. Ranma just shrugged, they weren't going to get any argument out of her on that point. Kurenai who was as quiet as usual tried to dispel the genjutsu or henge that Ranma was using and failed miserably and joined Anko in glaring at the imposter who'd taken Ranma's place.**

**The displaced martial artist was familiar with this particular expression on the faces of his female acquaintances and couldn't help saying his immortal words of greeting.**

"**Uh, hi! I can explain," and then scratched the back of her neck nervously.**

**/ To be continued… \**

Author's notes:- Hope people like this as much as I enjoyed writing it. If ya did let me know, if not then let me know why. Can't fix problems I don't know about, so REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! For all of those who don't review, thanks for reading anyway and I hope you enjoy my writing.

1. Torisu is a Japanised version of the Latin word torris, meaning firebrand, it's also the root word for torrid meaning heated. I thought I'd stick with an elemental theme for the naming of civilian centres of population in my fanfic, so there!

2. Currency in my fic is based on Japanese pre-Meiji era currency. Where the ryo was the highest denomination and made of gold, next was the monme or mon a silver coin, sixty of which make up a ryo. Finally came copper coins, four thousand to the ryo, and no I don't know what they were called, but their value was so low I doubt it was important to anyone other than peasants. So my currency goes like this, 5 koban(coppers) 1 mon, 60 mon1 ryo. 1 ryo is equivalent to 5 American dollars, so $1US12 mon or 40 koban. Though you won't see koban very often, it's like pocket money for kids. D rank missions are worth roughly 10 ryu, for short term work or 8 ryo a day for long-term jobs. This is broken up into 2 ryo for each genin and the jounin receives four. Genin receive so little because they usually are young and live with their parents or in village accommodation such as 'orphan's apartments', another reason is that a team may do multiple missions per day. It's also an incentive to work smarter and use better teamwork for the same reason, the smarter they work the more missions they can do.


	9. Chapter 9

Fallen Leaf

Chapter 9

Disclaimer:- I would if I hadn't done it to death, I mean just how many of these do I have to do before people get the idea that I don't own anything other than the story as I've written it? The characters, the settings and many of the concepts I use are owned by other, richer people. Bastards!

/ On with the story \

Ranma carefully backed away from the pair of irate females, the sense of trepidation only grew when Anko turned and snarled at him.

"Who the fuck are you!" she was past the need for being subtle, someone had just replaced Ranma and she wanted answers now and she wasn't averse to inflicting pain in the course of pursuing those answers. Anko Mitarashi was adept at many of the kunoichi arts not the least of which was genjutsu and she'd come to the same conclusion that Kurenai had mere moments before. This was no henge or genjutsu, or if it was it was damn powerful since Kurenai was considered a master of the art and could dispel anything up to and including something of Kage level, she wasn't much use for anything else in Anko's opinion but in genjutsu she was unparalleled.

Kurenai was also surveying the situation and denying certain things to herself, first of all she wasn't jealous that the red haired slut was better endowed than she was, nor did it worry her that she'd gotten such a reaction from Kak….the men when she'd never gotten a reaction like that. She didn't know who this 'female' was but she was going to get some answers and she didn't mind if the girl lived through the process either. Gripping a kunai in either hand, the one in her right hand held in a reverse grip she sidled closer to the red-head with Anko flanking her. She was happy to see the bitch begin to sweat as they got closer as it meant she probably wasn't all that good.

Ranma on the other hand had never been happier to hear someone speak as when both girls froze at Sarutobi's order.

"Ranma come over here. I had a feeling something like this would happen sooner or later so I prepared accordingly." Pulling a small scroll from his pocket he activated the seal and retrieved a small flask that he tossed to Ranma with a smile. The old man didn't blame Ranma for what had just happened, no, he blamed Kakashi who attacked after he'd been told that the test was over. There'd be a debriefing later, it seemed Kakashi was beginning to fall to the same problem his father had, a sense of self that over-rode the importance of the mission, and he didn't even have the valid excuse that he was doing it to protect someone. No, that last attack had been done with the sole purpose of protecting his own ego and that was something the Sandaime wouldn't allow in the shinobi of his village. "Kurenai check on Kakashi, Anko…"

The girl in question didn't hear what he said as she was too busy patting Ranma's chest at this point, she'd seen that hussy tip water over herself and then there he'd been, instant Ranma. Now all he had to do was answer the accusations that appeared in her eyes.

"Uh, that was me too," he blurted at the look in her eyes, "I said I can explain."

Kurenai in the meantime had finished checking that Kakashi was still breathing and had a pulse then put him in the recovery position before she straightened up dusting off her hands, then with a spiteful kick in the kidneys she turned and stomped over to the Hokage to glare at him, she wasn't finished with this by a long shot.

"What the hell just happened sir?" the words were said with just an edge of the ire she was feeling at the moment, it was bad enough that that girl was better endowed than she was but to then learn it was a boy in girls clothing, so to speak, was an even worse insult. Ranma sighed in relief as Anko's intense gaze switched over to the old man as he began to answer Kurenai's question.

"Erm, I know it's hard to believe but both of the people you've just seen are one and the same person. For some reason Ranma has the ability to change,"

"It's a curse I tell ya!" Sarutobi chose to ignore the interruption.

",and as I understand it, it is a complete change, into a woman and visa versa with the application of hot and cold water."

"So which are you? Girl or boy?" Kurenai asked as she peered up into his face.

"I'm a guy damn it!"

"But, this isn't possible, I mean how…" Anko asked.

Ranma's shoulders slumped as he considered answering the same questions he had a thousand times before and with a weary sigh he opened his mouth to do so. Only to have it snap shut a moment later and a manic grin appear.

"What?" Anko asked.

"Heh, forgot I had em….." everyone watched in fascination as Ranma's eyes glazed over for a moment, well except for Kakashi who had finally stopped bleeding but hadn't woken up yet, "Now where, ah…No that's not it," Ranma flipped a piece of paper into the air and they watched as it disappeared, "Um, that's….Yeah, that's it." Ranma yelled as he waved two pieces of paper around triumphantly before handing them to the girls.

"Er, what are they?" Kurenai held the sheet of paper gingerly and watched it as if she feared it might explode, which was a real concern in a village of ninja.

"Um, someone I used to know joked once that I answered the same questions so many times that I should just get a fact sheet printed up," 'Yeah, and she just happened to have one already made up and charged me an arm and a leg for it too,' "I didn't think I was gonna need em any more so I kind of forgot I had 'em. Anyway they should answer all your questions."

"That's good to know Ranma, perhaps I could have one also? Unfortunately I'll have to get it off of you later since I'm on a tight schedule today. So if we could continue with the final test that would be appreciated. I'm sure you've all got better things to do with your time."

"Right old man. What's the last test again?"

"Genjutsu will be the final test. Now before we begin I need to make sure you understand a few things about the art of illusion. First thing is that it is a battle of the mind. The genjutsuist will attempt to prey on the victims state of mind. For example, a guard who is coming to the end of his shift may be susceptible to a genjutsu that tells him there's nothing wrong because he is tired and it's near the end of his shift and he really doesn't want to have to deal with anything before he goes. The guard would believe that the small sounds a stealthy person gave off were just normal night sounds and could be discounted. On the other hand the genjutsu would probably fail if a whole group were to charge at him making a lot of noise as there would be too many conflicting noises for him to ignore. Once the victim has realized there is an illusion in progress they can dispel it in one of two ways. The first is to unleash a torrent of chakra that disrupts the genjutsu's structure. The other is to suppress your chakra to the point that the genjutsu has nothing to work with. There is a third option but it will rarely work as it is extremely hard to reflect the genjutsu back on the initiator while making it believable. Do you have all of that?"

"Yeah, I think I got it. Just a question but why would I use one technique to dispel the jutsu over another?"

"A good question. Let me see…. Each of the methods I mentioned has strengths and weaknesses. For example, the first that uses a chakra burst is expensive in terms of chakra but requires little to no real chakra control. Another problem is that you may be required to be stealthy and using the first method would give your presence away. The second is much better in terms of usefulness, it maintains both stealth and chakra reserves. On the downside it needs a considerable amount of chakra control to actually work. The third method as I said is hardly useful at all since it requires great skill in chakra control and large reserves of chakra, though it still maintains the stealth of the person as they are directing the chakra to a purpose rather than just dispelling it with abandon." Sarutobi finished his explanation and left Ranma to ponder the differences while he turned to Kurenai.

"Kurenai-chan, I wish for you to use only the weakest jutsu you are able and to work up until Ranma can no longer dispel them. Do you understand? Make the first few obvious so that he can get some practice at dispelling them."

"Yes Hokage-sama," the genjutsu mistress acknowledged his order.

"But first I think it would be fair for us to fix the damage done to the training ground. Don't you Ranma?" the old man gestured to the scarred battlefield that Kakashi and Ranma had left. Craters covered the length and breadth of the field with piles of shattered timber that had once been trees heaped here and there. One thing was for sure, nothing lived on that field, where once bugs and small rodents lived Ranma could sense nothing. In places smoke rose from the ground where one of Kakashi's fire jutsu had struck.

He had the grace to look embarrassed at the damage they'd caused and winced at the time it'd take to fix everything. "I thought you said you had stuff to do this afternoon?"

"I do, so if you'd be kind enough to step aside for a moment?" the Hokage began to form hand-seals while the others moved and when he'd completed them called, "Earth style – Sea of earth!" Ranma knew the old man was powerful, he knew in his bones that Sarutobi outclassed anyone he'd ever met before but he'd had no idea that he had reserves like this. Sarutobi slammed his open palm into the ground and chakra dispersed from his fingertips in visible waves as they spread out, ten metres, thirty, sixty….and where it passed the soil turned to liquid and flowed seeking its common level just like waves in water would. After a minute and a half the entire clearing was level again, a lot wider since the dead trees had sunk into the soil never to be seen again. What stood before them now was a barren stretch of dark moist earth.

"Hum, it seems to be lacking something. You've been using your chakra to grow plants haven't you Ranma?"

"Yeah," he frowned in puzzlement at the question.

"If you'd be so kind as to grow some grass in this clearing it would be greatly appreciated. I know it's a bit of an imposition but I'd feel better if we left the place in the same condition it was in when we arrived."

"Er, alright, I can do that," Pulling out a small proportion of his shen Ranma spread it into the ground in search of any viable seeds. There weren't many that were in the proper place for him to grow but there were enough. Here and there across the surface shoots of emerald green began to poke from the soil and push into the air at an ever increasing speed, two seconds after they first appeared they had sprouted seed-heads that burst a moment later giving Ranma more to work with. After thirty seconds Ranma stood ankle deep in a sea of new grass and surrounded by a number of stunned ninja who'd never seen anything like it before, even if they had tales of the Shodaime's powers.

"That's much better. Thank you Ranma, we can continue now. Kurenai remember to start with weak jutsu and work up."

"Yes sir," the kunoichi said as she moved into a position across from Ranma. Thanking her lucky stars that she didn't have to face him in combat like the others had, she began to form hand-seals for her first attack. It was a weak fear genjutsu that brought out what the victim feared the most. It wasn't the weakest she could perform but it was obvious, so obvious in fact that anyone hit by it should be able to throw it off without any trouble.

The operative word was should, as Ranma noticed the lights getting dimmer, he knew there was something wrong but the sense of being watched was too strong for him to discount. Looking around he began to panic as he noted something in the distance, a catlike shape that became better defined as it stalked closer. He took a step away from it, and then another but its approach became faster as it got nearer. Another step back followed by several more and the fear got stronger as the cat ran straight at him just as his foot came down on empty air and he was falling before he could adjust his balance.

Kurenai panicked as she felt Ranma's fear spike dramatically and forming a ram-seal she called out, "Kai!" to release him from the genjutsu. It only took a moment for her to realize that it hadn't worked, or rather that it had worked but the Ranma was now trapped within his own minds grip as he fell backwards and curled into a ball to protect himself from what she couldn't tell. She was about to run to him and try to dispel the genjutsu's effect with a well placed slap when his body relaxed completely and his breathing returned to normal. She wasn't the only one that breathed a sigh of relief when he relaxed.

"I thought I told you to use a weak genjutsu," Sarutobi spoke sternly.

"I did, you saw which one I used. It shouldn't have had anywhere near this amount of power."

"Unless the victim has a phobia," he said and watched as Kurenai went pale.

"Do you think…." She left the question hanging.

"I'm afraid that all we can do at this stage is to wait and see." He frowned as he tried to think just what the repercussions of this would be.

/ The depths of Ranma's mind \

Ranma never did figure out just how far the forest he'd created in his mind went. He figured that it was just a small forest like he'd intended, somewhere for Kyu to explore. She'd done that alright, in fact she'd done that on the second day she'd been inside the seal and nearly got lost after the artificial sun went down. Further than the fox had explored the nature of the forest began to change from a light and airy woodland to a dense jungle. The further from Kyu's clearing the darker and more tangled the trees became until it became primeval.

It was here that unobserved a tiny speck of light shone briefly before being pierced by a blood red claw that hung in the air unsupported, the claw dragged downwards through the fetid air causing a jagged scar of darkness to appear. Once the claw touched the ground the tear was over twelve feet in height and only a couple of inches wide. The claw withdrew for a moment before a bulge appeared forcing the scar to expand outwards and allow the passage of a ash grey paw which gingerly touched the muddy ground before sinking several inches. Several metres above another bulge appeared to force the scar even wider allowing a head to appear through the five foot gap, nose first the jaws appeared with teeth jutting from between lips set in a grimace of distaste. The green eyes that appeared widened as they took in the surroundings and then looked down at the near swampy ground. It let out a growl of discontent at its predicament but didn't allow its distress to stop it as it forced shoulders a foot wider than its head through. Another paw followed by a sinewy leg appeared as the creature pulled itself out of its prison and into this new and unexpected world.

It had escaped its prison many times before but always there had been darkness, there had never been form, and the distance it travelled to take possession of its host was minimal since when its host was in the depths of his fears this is the place that he would be. For some reason something had changed and it came into Ranma's mind alone and unseen. A nightmare of a hunter in a place that held all of mans deepest darkest fears and in the case of some people all of their inner demons. The cat, if it could be called such was the epitome of hunters, all sinuous grace and a lethal agility in a body that stood nearly four metres tall and nearly seven feet wide at the shoulder, and still it pushed it's body from the gaping wound in its hosts psyche.

The demon cat roared in challenge as the gate sealed behind it, somewhere the pitiful creature that somehow held it bound for years was cowering in fear, it would find it and then its miserable existence would end. It would never go back to that prison, it would be free to do as it pleased with the world and nothing would stop it this time. Raising its face it sniffed at some unknown air current and turned and growled at what it had found.

"Pr-r-r-r-ey," the sound rumbled deep in its chest as with a slight crouch it leapt forth at great speed with divots of mud flying behind it. The hunt was on.

/ Kyu's clearing \

Kyu was enjoying a nice relaxing afternoon, unfortunately it was with a badly written scroll about something couched in such esoteric terminology that she couldn't tell if they were talking about human energy or the inner workings of a nuclear reactor as explained by someone with an IQ of fifteen. Either way she was going to give up on it very shortly and find a better way to enjoy the respite in her physical training regime.

Then again if Ranma would ever finish with these tests she might get a rematch on their last spar. She'd been feeling pretty good before that spar as Ranma had upped the intensity on the simulacrum the week before and when he'd last come she'd been able to score hits on it, if not with ease then certainly with a regularity that had been lacking when he'd first upped the ante.

Then Ranma had entered the clearing and she'd made the mistake of crowing about her ability to defeat his martial arts construct with ease. That had led to another of those tests he was wont to give her. She rubbed at one of the persistently sore spots she'd earned when he'd put everything back into perspective for her. It'd been humiliating but she'd learned that while she'd learned a good counter it was a mistake to rely on it too much or someone with enough skill, namely Ranma, would take advantage of it.

Ranma had made the same move that led to the construct being thrown time after time and allowed her to use it on him, and lo it worked, once. Alas it only worked once as the next time he'd used the momentum to flip around and land behind her and placed his fist against her spine with a stinging hit, the next time he rapped the back of her head, the third he'd swept her as she tried to defend against the other two types of attack.

He'd explained to her that while it was a really good move against someone weaker than her, it was no use if she remained still until the move was complete. Thinking he'd given her the key she'd gone through the same move again but this time she let go and took a whirling step forward that left her in place to receive a punch in the face, luckily he pulled that one but it still caused her eyes to tear up. The next time he flipped almost as soon as he was airborne and though she was ducking that only helped him as his feet met her shoulders and drove her into the ground face first. Half an hour later Kyu managed to evade his counter attack and got herself a smile. That was when he started countering her move before she even got to initiate it, a simple twist of his wrist had her bent in a straight arm lock, then swept, kneed, punched, flipped every which way. By time he resumed a rest stance she'd received more bruises than he'd ever given her before, and had the sure knowledge that he'd been pulling his hits so that they didn't truly hurt her. Other than her ego that is.

"That's what happens when you get arrogant Kyu. There's no room for it in the art, I learned that a while ago. I was taught to think of myself as the best, the one that all the others should look up to, and I was taught to act like that as well. You know what it made me? I became a target, and that's all I was to the people around me. Someone to take down. If you want me to continue to teach you you're going to have to decide on 'Why?'. What are you fighting for? Is it to prove something? If so, then to who? Do you fight for the hell of it or will you only fight at need?"

"Alright then. What do you fight for?" Kyu challenged.

"I know why I fight Kyu-chan. I've known for years, and it took me a long time to figure out what it was."

"Then what was it?"

"I can't tell you right now. I can only hope that you'll fight for the same reason I do, and for that to happen you have to figure it out for yourself. The source of true strength can be found there though," Ranma added cryptically. He'd left shortly after that leaving a perplexed Kitsune to puzzle out what he meant. She hadn't seen him for about a week of real time now, not since he was constantly training in the outer world to equalize his shen and ki.

Kyu smirked to herself a moment after that thought, 'Probably a good thing he hasn't been here yet,' as she turned over to tan her back, or rather everything to be more precise since she was sans any clothes at the moment. It was one of the great things about this little world he'd created; the weather was perfect day after day. That and the fact that she could enjoy the feel of the sun on her skin without the danger of burning her skin. Of course there was also the fact that she would never tan as the light didn't have any UV component but that was alright as she could control her tan just by thinking about it. It would be even better if Ranma was here, she could use a waiter to bring her cool drinks, Kyu blushed at the thought of Ranma wearing nothing but a skimpy pair of trunks as he brought her drink over and offered to rub oil into her skin.

"Hmmmmm….." resting her chin on her crossed arms she closed her eyes and drifted away wrapped in the fantasy she was building. How long she remained like that she didn't know, or care. A cold feeling brought her back to the 'real' world, opening her eyes told her the cause of that feeling, for some reason the sky had turned grey with clouds and off on the horizon they were a deep black that was lit with intermittent flashes as lightning shimmered through their depths.

"What the hell?" It was the first indication that something was wrong as the world around her turned grey, and the weather dour.

"Ranma?" There were a number of ways to change this world but it was simpler and more energy efficient to do it from within the seal. The approaching cloud made her feel uneasy as the world around her got even colder. Cold enough that Kyu willingly make several layers of clothing appear on her body to buffer against it, since with the way this world was built there was a precedent that clothes could appear, or disappear at will. A while later she noted that the cold had masked something from her, the approach of something that didn't belong here, though whatever it was it wasn't nearly powerful enough to make the Great Kitsune nervous. No instead she was curious at the oddly familiar sense that she was receiving, like she knew it, or had known it somewhere before.

Thus it hardly surprised her when the bushes on the edge of the clearing began to rustle as something tried to push through stealthily and failed. The bushes exploded a moment later; sending pieces of the plant in all directions. What was revealed caused Kyu to quirk an eyebrow in bemusement as she whispered, "Nekomata?" Almost seconds after that she realized that while it was fairly large and adult looking, it was still only a kitten in terms of power. It did however give rise to the question, 'Just where in the hell did it come from?' The thought processes were cut off as the Nekomata stalked into the clearing and Kyu returned her attention to the cat.

"Rooowwwrr!!"

"You don't want to do that kitten," it also seemed that the kitten had a death wish if what it had just told her was any indication. "You can try to hurt me, but if you even think about hurting Ranma then I'll kill you."

"ROOOAAAARRRR!!!!!!"

"Watch your language kitten, there are ladies present," Kyu stated with a cold detachment that puzzled the Nekomata.

"Meh?" The cat shook its head, wasn't prey supposed to run? It certainly wasn't supposed to stand there and reprimand it on proper etiquette. Then again nothing had gone as it usually did on the rare occasion it'd managed to get free from its prison. A normal transition to the outside world would be almost instantaneous, so fast in fact that it couldn't react in time to skewer its host as they passed each other. Then there was the fact that this was almost like the real world, almost too much like the real world as the Nekomata remembered its cold wet underbelly fur with a slight curl of its lip to denote its disgust. Then there was this pitiful female that didn't have the good sense to run when confronted by a demon.

Kyubi was stifling the urge to chuckle at the confused expression on the face of the cat that confronted her. She did note that it didn't take long for the cat to get over the confusion though as it began to emit killing intent in waves as it crouched with its tails lashing the air in anticipation.

"Oh no, you really don't want to be doing that kitten. You're much too young to want to die." The tails went still.

"RoowwrrrrwwRRR!"

"Have it your way," she didn't even attempt to move as the neko demon blurred into motion, a horizontal streak of grey that hit the ground and skidded as the prey that hadn't moved somehow evaded it. It noticed motion from the corner of its eyes and barely had time to turn its head to see the massive paw that tore through the space it occupied like a wrecking ball, unfortunately the Nekomata didn't have anywhere near the dodging ability of that female and once again became a horizontal blur of grey though this time it was completely uncontrolled and the landing wasn't nearly as graceful as it rolled across the meadow in an explosion of dirt and grass as it struck the only grassy knoll in the clearing. When its motion stopped it managed a groan, its ribs protesting as even that minimal motion caused it near excruciating pain. Its eyes flickered open when it heard a nearby thump that shook the ground under it and found itself looking directly into the muzzle of a, it couldn't tell what it was as all it could really see were teeth, teeth that were larger than it was. Then it felt a tidal wave of killing intent that swamped its own pitiful attempt at intimidation.

"Bad Kitty!" the words were said with a low growl that laid the fur flat on the cats body as it tried to slink into the ground. The sound of that voice spoke on so many levels to the Nekomata's instincts that it knew that it had no options here, whatever this demon that stood over it wanted it was going to get, and so it didn't even attempt to roll to its feet as that might be taken as an aggressive act that could very well end its life in an instant. In fact it had only one chance at life.

The killing intent became so powerful that the cat couldn't do anything even if it wanted to, it was so palpable that the Nekomata's limbs were shaking forcefully in reaction and it didn't lessen as the form above shrank down to the point that he could tell it was a Kitsune, a very old, very powerful Kitsune. It didn't know how it had missed the feeling in its bones that was warning it about an ineffable danger. Now its only hope was that the Kitsune was feeling merciful, it remained perfectly still as it felt those needle sharp teeth close around its throat with enough power to break the skin and even the burning feeling of chakra being poured into the wound wasn't enough to cause the Nekomata to even wince as it submitted itself totally to the will of its new master. 'Mistress,' it corrected itself an instant later when it felt the chakra more clearly.

/ Ranma \

Ranma assumed he'd been falling for a while now, not that there was any indication that he was doing so since he was currently suffering worse sensory deprivation than he'd ever felt, including the time Genma had decided that sensory deprivation would be a great way to enhance someone's senses as they strove for some inkling of what was happening around them. Of course the silly git had missed the warning that extended sensory deprivation could lead to insanity, but as he'd so eloquently put it, 'Oh well, I guess we got lucky this time, huh son? Son? Put the knife down boy…..aiiiieeeee!'

So here he was once again suspended at an indeterminate point in wherever 'here' happened to be wondering just how long he could maintain a semblance of sanity. Not that he had anyway to tell how much time had passed. The only thing that gave him an indication was his heartbeat, and he'd lost count of how many times it had beat so far. Now he was just focusing on the sound itself as it became his whole world. Each beat crashing through his senses, and the silence that stretched for eternity between. It wasn't long before he'd calmed down and felt his senses stretch even further, to the point that he could feel something new. Like a whole different heart-beat that lay underneath his own. Slowly, the two sounds grew closer and closer until they merged seamlessly and he felt a click in his mind and his body began to feel again, he could feel his body moving, could feel a surface beneath him, behind him, in front. The surface surrounded him on all sides, hard, seamless without corners.

The darkness remained, encasing him totally, he still couldn't see the surface around him but he could flare his aura and hopefully get an idea of what he was dealing with. Upon close inspection he really shouldn't have been surprised when he found himself in what appeared to be an egg shaped from stone, whether it was as thin as one or not was something he'd have to figure out for himself. The fact it seemed to be made of a stonelike substance gave him a lot of hope as he searched for a weakness to exploit. Finding what he considered to be the weakest point he injected a burst of ki into it and braced for the expected explosion, which never came. Under the light of his aura he inspected the spot he'd struck and saw not even a small mark to indicate that he'd even struck it, then a quick inspection of his finger proved that it was working as well as it ever did.

"Well that didn't work, wonder if it needs more ki?" BOOOOMMM!!! "Nope," 'Note to self, don't do that again. Still nuthin' to show for it either, so force probably ain't the answer. Hmmm… I wonder…." What subjectively felt like several eternities of experimentation later, but what was actually only eleven thousand heart beats, at forty-seven a minute it was just under four hours. He knew because before he'd discovered so many different and interesting ways to blow himself up with ki and chakra, he'd spent several hours figuring out things like that so he could calculate time. It wasn't accurate but once his heart-beat returned to normal it was a good guideline. Given that nothing he'd done with ki got a reaction from wherever he was he'd moved onto chakra, which at least got some kind of response from the stony surface. It had shimmered like a struck bell for a few moments. A little more shen in the mix and the reaction grew, 'This looks kinda promising,' he mused as he blasted even more shen out.

For all the reaction he was getting now there was still nothing to show for the effort but he was getting somewhere, he could sense it. The vibration of each strike got stronger the more shen he used, so following that thought to its natural conclusion the next blow was pure shen, a blow that rattled his teeth but did nothing to get him out of this prison. He decided that this was getting him nowhere fast and that he'd better see if he'd actually done something before he continued. Crouching down into the base of the ellipsoid he began the breathing exercise that he'd discovered replenished his internal energy stores the quickest while he focused his 'sight' on the spot that he'd been striking over and over.

"Fuck! Why didn't I think of this before?" Looking at the surface he saw that while there appeared to be no blemish on the smooth surface, that fine striations in the substance radiated outward from the point of impact, the problem was that he could see them healing as he watched. He wasn't sure what he was seeing but it was fascinating. The only thing he could think of was that he needed to cause more damage, it also wouldn't hurt to watch his attack under shen 'sight'.

"Alright, once more with feeling," Ranma smirked as he lanced a shaft of shen into the dark ovoid once more, then blinked as he watched the energy dissipate around the shell in a series of reflections between the inner and outer surfaces. It was like a ripple on a river constantly reflecting off of the opposite bank until the wave lost energy and disappeared. He still hadn't managed to punch a hole in what he was coming to think of as a shell. The next blast was more powerful and focused than any previous probe, it turned out that it was too powerful as he couldn't control his attack, half of the energy washed back and….. The energy that did penetrate didn't reflect off the outer surface of the shell this time, in fact it punched a small hole through it. The smile that lit up Ranma's face was beatific.

"That's more like it! Now what did I do?" It took another few attempts to replicate the effect, and twenty or so more to refine it. The next blast made a hole almost two and a half feet across, enough for him to see the world outside, and note that he was extremely high up. He didn't know where he was but he at least now knew that he could get out. The last blast was aimed at the shell under his feet causing a four foot wide circle to be cut from under him, just like he'd planned he dropped out of the prison.

"Yes!" he yelled as he looked down towards his landing spot some several hundred metres below. Oh well, it could be worse, and at least he knew how to deal with this situation. He had plenty of time to look around before he had to do something about the increasing effects of gravity. 'So, I'm inside the seal?' An instant later he struck a hard surface.

/ Kyu's clearing \

The Nekomata was just coming to the conclusion that it was going to live when it felt a familiar pull from just behind its navel.

"Meeewwwl!"

"What do you mean you don't want to go back? Go back where?" Kyu asked curiously.

"Mew," the neko demon looked pitiful as it felt the tension increase in the link that tethered it to its host. Wherever the flesh-bag was it seemed that he was gaining the ability to break out of the prison on his own. It didn't bode well for the Nekomata's continued bouts of freedom if that was the case. "Merrrr?" The pressure from its tether grew immensely all of a sudden and the demon was expecting to find itself contained within its dark prison once more when it felt something snap with enough force to put the massive feline on its backside.

Ranma who was currently sitting up amongst thick strands of red hair, hair that looked to be about as thick as his wrist felt something snap and wondered what had just happened.

The Kitsune hadn't noticed her passenger just yet as even though he'd fallen from a great height, her own massive size had cut that distance down considerably and her fur had absorbed almost all of the impact. Leaving just enough pressure to make some instinct in her head make her want to sit and scratch, or roll to relieve the itch. Something more pressing drew her attention though when the Nekomata let out a hiss of agitation and looked upwards. She knew it wasn't directed at her since she'd placed a 'Seal of subservience' on the tiny cat, so that left only one person who could be causing the neko youkai to want to attack.

"Ranma?" It had to be, it wasn't like this was a busy market place, even the inclusion of the Nekomata had been a massive surprise as there hadn't been any signs of its presence in Ranma's mind before. Intending to find the boy she began shrinking, at about a third of her full size she realised that there was a weight on her back, it was only slight but it was definitely there. Ranma realized where he was almost instantly and began to bound through the thick hair towards the Kitsune's head, "Hey Kyu-chan!" He yelled thinking that she probably couldn't hear him properly if he didn't.

"There's no need to yell Ranma," Kyubi sat down on her haunches and smirked as the heard a yell of surprise as her rider slid backwards through her hair, wincing when he managed to grab a handful of the now much thinner stuff.

"Er, sorry about that. What am I doin' here, and why were you in full fox form?" He watched as Kyu transformed into her human form, and then stilled completely as what had been making that strange hissing noise became visible beyond the now petite woman. "C-c-c-c-c-c-ca-cat!" He was so shocked that he was backing away without even thinking about it, his mind just screamed at him that there was a huge cat there and he needed to run away.

"Stay still!" Neither of the creatures who heard the authorotive voice knew if it was directed at them or not, but both Ranma and the Nekomata stilled as if turned to stone. "Ranma, you do not run from a Nekomata, they're natural born hunters and they'll instinctively chase anything that runs." His eyes widened as he contemplated that, it took a moment longer to figure out that while he was normally terrified of even the sound that cats make, this was presently not the case. Instead of the mind numbing terror he was clear minded and wondering just why it was he should be afraid of this overgrown pussy-cat.

"What's with the cat, uhn, Nekomata?"

"We'll discuss it later, right now you're not safe. Do exactly what I say, do not argue and do not hesitate," the playful note that was usually in her voice was completely absent and Ranma had to suppress a shiver from running down his spine.

"Uh alright," the low growl emanating from the huge cats throat was beginning to unnerve him.

"Move behind me, put me between you and the Nekomata," he would have protested but she'd specifically told him not to argue, so he figured she must know what she was doing.

"Ok."

"Now slide your arms around my waist and pull me in tight against your body," the petite woman shivered slightly as she felt his arms tighten. A moments trepidation was quashed as she considered a few other ways she could stop the Nekomata from attacking Ranma. None of them would be as fun as this way though, and they wouldn't have any other benefits either. She would have to explain it to Ranma afterwards though. Reaching up she pulled her rust red hair from the nape of her neck so that it covered her chest then grasped his wrists to keep him in place. The next part of this was very important and if he backed away then it would be a total waste of their time as he'd negate the ritual.

"Now bite my neck," Kyu could feel her own excitement building, she might have been a mite over twelve thousand years old, give or take a few millennia(mainly 'give', but it's not polite to ask a ladies age) but this was one thing she'd never done before, never wanted to for that matter. Now it just seemed kind of right, and there was the fact that humans didn't live for very long anyway to consider so it wasn't like it was forever.

"B…"

"I said don't argue, just do it!" she reiterated harshly. Reluctantly Ranma placed his teeth against the velvety skin of her neck and bit down, trying not to hurt her at all.

"Harder Ranma, you have to draw blood. Don't worry, I heal very quickly" Ranma was so focused on what he'd been asked to do that he didn't notice that the cat had stopped growling the second that he'd placed his teeth on Kyu's skin, in fact it was watching with a comically surprised expression on its face that had Kyu snickering inside. Ranma steeled himself to do as he'd been told and bit down harder a moment later, relaxing the pressure a little when he heard a grunt of pain, a little blood trickled from the wound and into his mouth and he could smell the coppery tang of fresh blood as it pooled in his mouth.

"Good, now all you have to do is pout your chakra into the wound through your teeth and we'll be finished," she shivered deeply as she felt the sensation of burning as he did as she bid him and forced chakra into her against the tide of her own that was trying to force it's way to the wound and heal it, "That's it Ranma you can release me now," she said softly. He didn't notice that the wound sealed shut as he took his teeth away, he wouldn't have known what it meant when the mark he'd left turned black, or that she shuddered at the loss of warmth as he stepped away from her.

"Uh, what did I just do? Kyu?" he asked hesitantly as he caught the womans bemused smile.

"Er, yea Ranma?" she blushed as she turned to him.

"I asked what that was all about?"

"I suppose I really should tell you. Okay, it's like this, most demons know a few seals. The older the demon the more seals. Me, I'm a master even by demon standards, I know things that other demons only dream about. There are however a few seals that are so old that they're instinctive. Show him," she said in an aside to the Nekomata, who raised his head so that Ranma could see the black marks caused when the Kitsune had punctured its skin earlier. "You see, this is a 'Seal of submission', it makes me this demons master as it recognises that I'm stronger than it is."

"Is that what I did to you?" Ranma didn't know what to make of the situation.

"No, the one you just placed on my neck is different. I suppose it is kind of similar though. In demon terms I just admitted that you're stronger than me, even if it isn't technically true."

"What does that mean?"

"Since you've done that it kind of makes me your property, and since the Nekomata here submitted to me that makes you its master also. It absolutely cannot attack you no matter what happens. You could do whatever you wanted with me," Kyu said suggestively, "The seal you just used isn't called the 'Mating Seal' for nothing you know."

"….." Ranma suddenly found himself gazing serenely into the blue screen of death as his mind shut down unexpectedly.

"Ranma? Ranma!" (crack) Ranmas head snapped to one side as Kyu forcefully regained his attention. Shaking her hand she asked, "Are you alright now?"

"Uh, I'll get back ta you on that. Could you answer one question?"

"Yes, what do you want to know?"

"Why?"

"There are a number of reasons. Firstly, there's the fact that you now control this Nekomata, not to mention me. Secondly, you can borrow some of the more esoteric powers we possess, whereas before you could only take our chakra. Another point is the fact that I wanted to."

"Uhn," Ranma murmured in surprise.

"Next is that your commands supersede all other commands, contracts and promises regardless of age."

"Does that mean what I think it does?"

"Let me ask you a question. Do you want me to destroy Konoha and all of its people?"

"NO! Of course not, that's the last thing I'd want you to do," Ranma stated perturbed at the turn in the conversation.

"Good, because now, no matter what I must follow what you just said. The contract with the group that asked me to destroy Konoha is broken and as a bonus there won't be any karmic repercussions."

"Karmic?"

"You understand the concept of karma right? You know that when you do something good for the sake of doing something good that you accrue positive karma, and when you do something bad that you get bad karma? Well in demon terms it's not so nebulous as, good karma, bad karma. With us it's a case of direct damage to our physical and spiritual powers. Remember I told you it's impossible for a demon to break a contract? Well let's just say I stretched the truth, I could have broken it but depending on how badly I did so then I would have suffered accordingly. I could have lost a lot of power, or if it was bad enough it could even kill me. Karma is one of the major deciding factors in how powerful my kind can become."

"So if bad karma makes you weaker, then it kinda follows that good karma makes you stronger?"

"That's a little oversimplified but basically you're right."

"But you were gonna destroy Konoha!" he stated.

"Definitions of good and bad vary between species. Humans would see it as bad, but it's not necessarily so for my kind. The breaking of the contract was much more dangerous to me than to attempt to destroy a village that I believed would be able to defend itself."

"Hold on, you mean you knew he could do this to you and you still attacked?"

"Well not this per se but I did believe that the Hokage and his followers had the power to hold me to a stalemate or even drive me away. It wouldn't have been enough to fulfil the contract, but if I had tried with all my power and failed to destroy the village then at least the karmic kickback would have been minimised. I would have lost a little power but not too much. I suspect that the real purpose of the attack wasn't to destroy Konoha but to weaken me. I just don't know why. Anyway, enough of that, if they were hoping to weaken me they're going to be so disappointed. Now what can you tell me about this fellow?" she gestured towards the Nekomata that had remained still for a while now as it tried to figure out what had just happened between the other two.

"Er, why are you asking me? I didn't know he was here."

"I see…..There are many ways that a human can be possessed by a demon, most of them leave the demon in control of the body, either destroying the humans soul, or in rare instances leaving them trapped inside their own minds unable to influence the world as the demon goes about its business. A few, such as the one the Yondaime Hokage used on me, imprison the demon and allow the host to use the demons power, but not their powers, if you understand the difference."

"Uh, yeah I think so, it's like if you had all my power but didn't know how to use it for the techniques I use?"

"Good. Now in your case I believe… I tell you what, why don't you tell me where your fear of felines comes from and we'll see if it confirms my belief."

"If you really want," he sighed as he contemplated telling the tired old tale of how he got the Neko-ken for the umpteenth time to the umpteenth person who'd be outraged on six year old Ranma's part, "It all started when Pops told me of this great technique that'd make me invincible, course I didn't understand what he meant back then, but I did know he was happy about it and so I let him do it to me. Basically he tied me up and then wrapped me in fish products and dropped me in a pit with a lot of starving cats…..Hey I didn't stutter!" Ranma's eyes widened as he remembered that there happened to be a massive cat just a few metres away that he'd completely dismissed from his mind as unimportant.

"Hmmm, well that confirms part of it for me, and you were right your father is an idiot. My next point is that he's a moron. An incompetent, addle pated irrational buffoon. He's so stupid he makes algae look like a higher life form!" Ranma sweat-dropped as her insults increased, the Nekomata contented itself with sidling away from the obviously deranged but extremely powerful, and eminently worthy of respect demon. It still wasn't sure of the full powers of this Kitsune, and some of them had the power to read minds and he was hoping that two compliments to one insult was a good ratio that'd keep it out of trouble if it turned out the Kitsune could in fact read minds.

"Uh, Kyu-chan, um I know Pops is kinda an idiot, but…."

"Heh, you can thank your lucky stars that he is, if he'd done this ritual correctly then you wouldn't be here."

"Eh?"

"You'd be dead, and this little fellow would still be in a demon crèche where it belongs."

"Meh?" The Nekomata looked startled at that pronouncement.

"Look, the first part is to lower your psychic defenses through pain and disorientation. The next part, is to continue in that vein, building up an intense field of terror and darkness. Your terror and the darkness of all those cats concentrated in the pit would have eventually gained the attention of a demon. Usually the type of demon depends on what is placed in the pit. Cats, dogs, dragons, well dragons would be a little hard but with the right tools it's still doable, anyway you get the picture. As the pall of darkness grows stronger more powerful demons would gather and vie for the chance to enter the mortal realm. It's at this point that your mind seeks shelter from the trauma, it'll attempt to hide deep in your psyche, right back in your primitive mind where all your night terrors and things that humans fear reside."

"That don't make any sense!"

"It does if you consider that your mind is retreating from a waking nightmare and heading towards some nebulous ill-defined fear. Now once you'd fully retreated the victor of the demons would have tethered itself to your soul since your primeval mind is a place that is easily accessed by my kind. The next thing that should have happened is that your father should have brought you back from your nightmare and when you were fully in command of your body he should have killed you. In that instant the soul of the demon would have swapped places with your soul and it would have been free. At least that's the way it should have gone, but it seems your father didn't do his research right," Kyu paused for breath for a moment and Ranma interjected.

"Nah, Pops probably didn't read that part or thought it was a waste of time since he was trying to make me a powerful martial artist and killing me would have caused him to fail in that. You were right though, he's still an idiot."

"Precisely. Now like I said you should have died that day, but when he didn't kill you at the appointed time he broke the symmetry of the ritual and then all bets were off. It gave you partial control of the demon that you were possessed by and since cats scared you, you selected the weakest demon your spirit could find."

"Rooowrrr?!" The Nekomata protested then slunk belly down at the quelling look Kyu gave it.

"Yes you are, now shut up and let me finish! You probably passed out at that stage due to psychic shock and the Nekomata took over until you recovered."

"So if the old man hada' killed me?"

"Then a rather powerful Nekomata would have decimated your world."

"I don't think so, I think they'd drop a nuclear weapon on it eventually," he was certain of that much, it would have probably done a great deal of damage in the meantime butthey'd soon get the idea that it would take something cataclysmic to kill the monster.

Kyu accessed all the information Ranma had on nuclear weapons through their new link and slowly began shaking her head, "I'm afraid it wouldn't work Ranma. From what I can tell this nuclear bomb of which you speak is basically a huge explosive. As such it releases physical energy. If the demon were weak it might slow it down a little but ultimately even a weak demon would shrug such a thing off. Now if it were an explosion of shen then anything less than a Demon Lord would probably die instantly and I wouldn't make any bets on the Lords survival either. It always amuses me when they swarm me with ninja since they do so little damage with their chakra. They'd do much better to have sent medi-nin after me as the ratio of shen to ki is higher and they'd have done more damage."

Ranma filed that piece of information away for later consideration. "Okay, I get that, but surely there'd be something they could do?"

"Having looked through your memories I can't honestly say your world has enough spiritual depth to save themselves from one of my kind. Not that this world is much better for all the fact that the people here are closer to nature."

"So, what am I supposed to do with him?" he began to gesture towards the Nekomata but stopped when he realized it wasn't there anymore. "Huh? Where'd he go?"

"He was bored so he went to find something to play with," Kyu smiled fondly in the direction the large feline had gone, "What? He's only a kitten, they have short attention spans. That reminds me, what are you going to do about this seal you placed on me?"

"Seal?"

"Yes, this one," Kyu pointed at the dark ring on her neck.

"I didn't know it was a seal. Um, what's a seal?" he asked hesitantly. The Kitsune shook her head in resignation as she found another area of knowledge that Ranma was lacking, not that she'd expected better since his own world didn't have anything like what this one did.

"You know those chakra patterns I've been teaching you to form?" she waited for his nod of acknowledgement, "Well they're seals, or rather a predetermined pattern of chakra manipulation that can be shaped by the others around them to perform techniques. On the other hand the kind of seal you placed on me is a physical chakra construct, it shapes and stores the chakra indefinitely for a particular purpose. Most are extremely intricate and precision is very important. The one I have here is quite simple by contrast. Like I said it's possibly one of the oldest known seals."

"So does it have a name? I mean you called the other one the 'Submission Seal' or somethin'"

"Oh it has a name alright, translated I suppose it would be something like the 'Mating seal' or maybe 'Marriage Seal', would be closer," the fox waited for some kind of reaction.

"……"

/ Hokage Tower \

Sarutobi was reading as was his wont on long nights such as this one. It was going to be a long night because the young man he'd sponsored into the village was once again occupying a hospital bed. It seemed that the genjutsu Kurenai had used was something he was extremely susceptible to. The medi-nin hadn't even offered an estimate on when he'd return to consciousness the situation was that unusual. Knowing that it'd take time he'd chosen to leave it in both Kurenai and Anko's hands to watch over him while Ranma was incapacitated with strict instructions to inform him when the boy recovered.

As things stood he'd finished with his duties for the day with no further major trouble and was currently sitting with a history scroll in his lap trying to run the feeling he'd had the previous day to ground. It had been frustrating so far as he hadn't found even a single reference that would lead him to believe that the Akatsuki existed before Ranma had told him about them. He sighed and put the scroll aside, it wasn't a particularly coherent history anyway and it was giving him headaches to track down its many divergent threads, none of which looked promising leads in any case.

On the other hand he'd taken a number of shortcuts in the research process, the first of which was to use bunshin to aid him. Around the room there were many stations where scrolls and books were set on automatic machines that would either flip the page or wind the scroll forward at a pace roughly half of that which Sarutobi himself read. The reason was that while the bunshin, which didn't have a physical body were far from intelligent they also weren't stupid or mindless, they could hold limited instructions in their chakra matrix, a little known fact that some ninja made good use of. Sarutobi himself had programmed these twenty bunshin to alert him the moment they discovered the word 'Akatsuki' in whatever they were watching or when the document they were watching came to an end. It was an elegant solution as far as he was concerned since he wouldn't drain his chakra too much in maintaining them and he also wouldn't have to deal with the influx of information when they were dispelled as he would if he used the Kage bunshin variant.

Speaking of which it was getting late and it was time to do exactly that before he went to bed, putting the scroll on a table beside his recliner he looked around the room for the first time in a while and wondered just how long that bunshin had been waving its arms in the air, it had probably been a while as it looked quite desperate to be noticed.

"Ah, so you've found something?"

The clone nodded assent vigorously as it gesticulated towards the machine still rolling the scroll forwards.

"Oh good, well then lets see what you've got," he stood up and carefully rearranged his aching body so it did so less and sighed as he watched the bunshin interpret his statement as a request to bring the document over. It was quite amusing to watch the replica of himself try futilely to put its hands on the scroll only to watch them go through it repeatedly. Looking around he found that none of the other clones had stopped what they were meant to be doing so he clapped his hands sharply to stop all of the machines and then dispelled all the clones and sighed again as his chakra reserves finally started to refill. Tomorrow would be a whole new day to do the same thing over again, after all this was only one document and there might be much more in the library stacks. The lights dimmed as he left the room.

/ Next morning \

Slowly opening his eyes Ranma woke the next day feeling physically refreshed, his mind on the other hand was really tired and his 'sleep' had been troubled because of what Kyu had done.

"Damn it!" he cursed viciously under his breath, the hissed words startled the other sleeping occupant in the room.

"Ranma?" Anko rubbed her eyes as she sat up in the comfy chair beside the bed.

Turning to check the light streaming through the window before speaking, "Morning Anko, watcha doing here?"

"I wanted to make sure you were alright. Plus Hokage-sama told me to inform him the moment you were back with us."

"Yeah, um, about that. What happened?"

"We were kind of hoping you could tell us. Kurenai used her genjutsu on you and you just keeled over without any warning."

"Er, okay, it probably has to do with my fear of cats," he shuddered at the memory of the massive cat that resided with the fox behind his seals. Then frowned at the memory of the fox that lived behind those seals and what she'd done to him.

"You're afraid of kitty cats?" Anko stared incredulously. How the hell could anyone be afraid of those cute adorable little critters? It was almost as incomprehensible as people not liking snakes in her opinion.

"I don't know if I am anymore. I think that genjutsu thing may have cured me," better not explain just how it'd cured him. The village didn't need to know that there was a second demon living inside him, or that he now had control of both of them. Sarutobi had told him they'd have enough trouble dealing with the fact he had the Kyubi sealed within.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Excuse me for a minute Ranma, I've just got to go and inform Sarutobi-sama that you're awake," with that the kunoichi bolted from the room.

Ranma took the opportunity to relax back into the pillows with a sigh as he thought about what had happened while he'd been in the seal. 'Married!!' Damn it, he'd fought for years to be able to make such choices for himself and then Kyu goes and does something like that! As if his thoughts conjured her he heard a voice in his mind.

'**Ranma? Please, talk to me?'**

"No," he wasn't ready to talk to her yet, he was angry and there wasn't nearly enough distance between the incident and now to lessen the damage.

'**I'm sorry, I…**' Ranma ruthlessly shut down the mental connection between them and sank further into the pillows. Not that he had long to wallow in his misery as a doctor and nurse came into the room.

"Ah, good you're awake,"

"Yeah?" wondering if it really was a good thing.

"You had us worried for a while there. Phobia sufferers sometimes never come back to reality." The older man set about checking blood-pressure and temperature, and after ten minutes he opined, "Well everything seems normal, your pulse is a little slow, but that might be due to your physical conditioning. Seeing as you're back to fighting fit, I suppose we'll have to discharge you." He made a number of notations on a clipboard which he handed to the nurse.

"So I'm free to go?"

"Certainly, and don't take this personally but I hope it's a while before I see you again."

"None taken doc. I'd kinda like to stay away from here too," Ranma smiled wanly as he rose from the bed and made his way to the pile of folded clothes on the dresser.

"I'll leave you to get dressed then," turning on his heel he ushered the nurse from the room sighing in exasperation when it took a couple of attempts to regain her attention. Ranma shook his head at the antics of the couple thinking once again that people were really strange.

A few minutes later Ranma signed some paperwork for his release and stepped out into the foyer of the hospital.

"Where do you think you're going?" Anko slid to a halt on the supposedly non-slip tiles as she came abreast of Ranma.

"Uh, the doc said I was good to go. So I thought I'd head home and get a change of clothes."

"Not yet you're not, the Hokage wants to see you first."

"Lead the way then," Ranma said resigned to the situation. There went any hope of getting some food and maybe a shower, at least for a while.

"Right," Anko took off over the rooftops leading him a merry chase as they headed for the tower in the distance. He'd seen the place before but somehow as they got closer he got a better appreciation of the sheer size of the structure, not as big as the sky-scrapers back home but certainly large by the standards of Konoha. If the outside of the tower was impressive the inside was even more so, a massive foyer decorated simply but with a touch of class greeted the couple as they pushed open the double doors. The room looked a lot like a bank in that there was a row of tellers behind barred windows down one side of the room, on the other side a number of desks were made available. Another thing that made it resemble a bank in Ranma's opinion was the fact that there were long lines before each of the open windows. Turning to Anko with an enquiring look he asked,

"What's all this?"

"What? No one's shown you the contract exchange?"

"Nah, I haven't been in town for a couple of months and the old man didn't show me much when I was. So what's it all about?"

"Um, where to start? Okay, you know that as ninja we go out and do jobs for people?"

"Well yeah," he'd known about it and felt a little uneasy about being handed a job he wouldn't like such as an assassination. Not knowing the rules he didn't know if he had a right of refusal.

"Eh, well you don't think we do that out of the goodness of our hearts do you? I mean come on, some of the jobs we're given are dangerous."

"Oh yeah, that's right, Sarutobi mentioned something about ranking missions, now what was it again?" he stopped to think about it and see if he could remember only to be interrupted by an impatient Anko.

"That's right, they're ranked lowest, D, which mainly consist of manual labour within the village or its immediate surroundings. Don't worry you won't see much of that kind of work since it's normally given to rookie genin teams to help fine tune their team-work. C rank missions are usually something simple like escort duty or taking out a group of bandits," Ranma made a moue of distaste for that last job, "Don't look like that. Some of those bandits are scum, who won't hesitate to kill the people they rob, most of 'em'll do worse than that depending on who their victims are. Anyway it's not like killing them is the only option, it's just the easiest. If you were feeling merciful you could capture them and hand 'em over to the authorities, or you could cripple them so they won't be able to do something like that again. It's really up to the individual, I've gotta admit most Konoha ninja would try to capture them unless they'd done something really bad. Another type of mission that comes under C ranking quite often is as a secure courier, or maybe spying, where there are no opposing ninja on site. You saw the desks on the right of the room?" She paused for a moment as the lift doors opened and admitted them.

"Yeah."

"Those people would have been filling out contract request forms for D, C and low B ranked missions. Erm, B ranks where enemy ninja might start appearing, though they'll be low ranked if the person filling out the contract is being honest with us. Of course people make honest mistakes all the time, or the situation changes, so we hold the right to renegotiate the contract if the situation is found to be different than what we were told. A ranked missions can be just about anything, though one thing is for sure, there's always danger involved, that's why they cost so much. From there the difficulty only rises, high A ranked could be an assassination mission, and most S ranked missions are, but you won't be seeing that kind of action for years I would imagine," a light pinging sound stopped Anko once more as they reached their level and exited the lift, "Konoha's a bit weird in that respect, assassination missions start at high A rank and go up through S rank and right into SS rank, though there have only been three SS rank jobs in the last decade from what I hear."

"So some of the other villages don't put assassination as high in their job rankings?"

"Nope, I don't think many of the other villages value life as highly as we do, so they may classify assassination jobs as low as B rank, depending on how hard it is of course. I've also noticed they don't have much respect for the lives of their ninja and treat them like tools to be discarded once they're no longer useful," 'Luckily Konoha isn't like that,' Anko thought.

"So what kind of jobs are SS rank jobs? The old man mentioned S rank but he didn't say nuthin' about SS rank jobs."

"Like I said there aren't many of those given out. They're usually extremely hard jobs, some would say suicidal. Enough that pay isn't made out to the ninja teams that execute them but to the families. SS ranked missions are only ever commissioned by the village council though. Oh hold up Ranma, this is the place," Anko turned and knocked on the door, waiting for a response she pushed it open.

"Hey Kaneda, how's it going?" Kaneda Yun was a decade past middle age and a civilian who'd been called in for his administrative abilities. Didn't mean he wasn't fit though, well except for the slight paunch he'd developed sitting behind a desk for long hours. Everything about the man cried out 'average', medium height and build, light brown hair and no distinguishing features the man would have done well as an infiltrator as no one would remember his face after he'd left the area, and if by some miracle they did the description given would cover about a half of the male population in Fire country.

"Good Anko, good. Um, I won't hold you up, the Hokage wishes to see you immediately. I take it this is Ranma?" He scrutinized the young man as he came level with the desk, having been the personal assistant to the past two Hokage, one of them twice now, he was a fairly good judge of the shinobi he met. Something about this man sent a shiver down his spine, it might have had something to do with the fact that his eyes never stilled as they assessed the room with an intensity he hadn't seen since the Snake Sannin had last been here.

"Yeah, that's him. Well catch you later old man," the kunoichi smirked as Kaneda winced, it was no secret around the village that the man was a bit of a pervert where the younger kunoichi were concerned, not that he'd ever do anything other than flirt when off duty, since not even the ANBU would get in the way of a righteously angry kunoichi putting a pervert in his place.

Ranma craned his neck to keep the man in sight for a moment as they walked into the office beyond, "What was all that about?"

"Shhh," Anko hushed him as they came fully into the formal office of the most powerful man in Konoha.

Showing his usual fine flair for etiquette Ranma closed the door and turned to face the Hokage with a cheery, "Hey old man, you wanted to speak to me?" The kunoichi with him blinked at his informality, while that certainly wasn't the reaction of some of the other people who were in the room. Such as the ANBU team that provided security for the villages leader and were kept in the loop as to just who Ranma was and were willing to teach the demon container a lesson in protocol.

He didn't have a chance to 'see' his opponent before a naked blade entered his field of vision, with just enough time for him to reach out and capture the slowing blade between the thumb and three fingers of his left hand. The right hand captured the bird-masked ninja by the wrist that held his weapon and with a powerful twist Ranma had pulled the startled man into range to receive a 'faceful of head', as he'd heard his father call it. The bird mask shattered exposing the glassy eyed ninja beneath, the powerful blow having knocked him senseless. Ranma grasped the hilt of the sword while releasing the tip and examining the rapidly closing wound he'd received to his fingers as he poured shen into the open cuts and even the knicks in the bones were removed. He acknowledged that it was probably stupid to attempt a one handed 'Blade stopper' but the injury was minimal in comparison to what he could have received id he'd left the blade unchecked.

Sarutobi watched the small drama unfold before him chose not to comment on it as Ranma had taught the ANBU not to underestimate him, and an official reprimand on top would just make the man even more resentful than the fact that Ranma held the Kyubi prisoner.

"Ah, Ranma it's good to see you've recovered, and yes, I did wish to see you. With the tests you've completed, I've been able to place your skill level. With everything combined I find you're at a high Jounin level. Of course there are holes in your knowledge base that make your skills ineffective. Your lack of local knowledge about geography, history, politics and such will limit your effectiveness as well. I'm sure there are other such examples in your education. Plus there are the basic three jutsu that all Academy students are expected to know," he leaned forward to look closer at the young man and see how he was taking his opinion, "There is another matter that I have already informed you of, and that is that no one can go straight to jounin rank, no matter what their skill level is. To rectify this situation I have prepared some course material that should bring you up to speed. There is a graduating class in around five weeks. It will be hard for 'you' I know," he stressed the word you as a challenge, "but I'm sure if you put your mind to it you'll be alright."

Ranma frowned, that sounded an awful lot like school type learning and he'd be one of the first to admit he didn't like it one bit, no not even a little bit.

"Hmm, I suppose that might be a little hard so maybe you should try for the following graduating class in seven months?"

"No way old man, I'm gonna graduate in the next class. I got too much to do if I'm gonna win that bet," Ranma crossed his arms over his chest defiantly.

"Well if you say so…. Hmm, I suppose I should have Anko-chan here take you to meet the instructors at the Academy so that they can give you the required reading to complete your education." The old man paused for a moment to look at the young man as if trying to discern some hidden facet about him, "Before you go, I wish to show you something," pressing a hidden button a small door was 'unsealed' to reveal an alcove containing a rather large scroll, "I believe the first jutsu on this scroll may prove useful, however, it would only be responsible to inform you to make sure you read the section in its entirety leaving nothing out. Now off with you, I'll have a copy delivered to you later this evening." Sarutobi smiled at the confused expression on Ranma's face as he allowed Anko to drag him off.

/ To be continued…. \

Authors notes:- I have the right to blather on about nothing much in this section, though in this instance I shall refrain. Other than to ask you to review and give me warm fuzzies as per usual. Warm fuzzies are the fuel that ignite the fires of my imagination, so the more the better, ne?"


	10. Chapter 10

Fallen Leaf

Chapter 10

Disclaimer:- This ain't mine, the characters and settings that is. The manner in which I use them however is mine, all mine. Many concepts are borrowed so I don't claim them either.

Authors notes:- Apologies for the delay, I didn't realize that much time had passed, it certainly didn't feel like it to me. I'll try to update faster but there are just so many other fascinating stories on fanfiction(dot)net. I'll also admit that I was working on too many projects at once and thus burned out a lot. I feel a bit better now so…but no promises.

There seems to be a misconception that Kyu is responsible for Ranma's Nekoken cure. This is not the case, if anyone is responsible for that then I'd have to say it was Minato Namikaze, the person who put the seal on him and stopped the neko-demon transitioning into the real world. The fact that they were both trapped in the same part of Ranma's mind served to sever the link between the two.

Another minor point I'd like to make is that Naruto is only two months old at this stage. So there's really not much that I can do with him inside the plot. For those of you who think this is a shame, well I will admit that he plays a major part after he reaches four years of age, that's after a couple of time skips. Hey if Kishimoto can do it then so can I. You'll also see some of your favourite characters from the 'Rookie nine'

/ Kyu's clearing \

Kyu watched the retreating back of her container as he walked away. Not even a backwards glance, no words, just to simply walk away like that. There had been something in his eyes but she didn't want to acknowledge that it looked a lot like betrayal, and a weariness that told her that it wasn't the first time, or even the second.

One thing was for certain, she wouldn't chase after him, she wouldn't ask for his forgiveness. As she watched she realized she wouldn't have the chance as he passed through the seal that held her trapped in this little world. 'Two months', she sighed, 'I've known him just two months, so how can he mean so much to me?' As that thought ran through her head she decided that pride was all very well when she was right, but she had the distinct feeling she'd stepped over an invisible line and lost more than his trust.

She didn't do it very often, preferring to ask him questions and find out what he was willing to tell her, but this was an emergency, she needed information, she needed to know just how bad things were. As time passed she became paler and paler, she hadn't known things were that bad in his life, she certainly had never guessed from the way he acted that his family and the family of his fiancée were responsible for so much of the confusion and pain in his life. In an abstract sense the Kitsune had known that Ranma's father was an idiot, but she couldn't have guessed he was so bad that he'd torture a small child in the name of his so called 'Art'. Not once as in the Nekoken but on at least nine other occasions she viewed similarly dangerous teaching methods practiced on the boy. It amazed her that Ranma was still around with all that had happened to him.

Thrown on top of that were the instances when they'd travel to a new training ground, or dojo. Being a garrulous and approachable child he'd made friends easily when he was younger, but then later for some reason he could never fathom they'd come to hate him and along with the adults wherever they were this time they'd chase the itinerant father and son with intent to harm. Eventually he'd learned to not even bother making friends, they were more in the way of friendly rivalries so that they didn't hurt so much when they finally turned on him.

The ultimate betrayal happened when he was just barely sixteen with their arrival at a place called Jusenkyo. That was a betrayal on a scale he'd never known before, the betrayal of everything he'd ever been taught about himself and what he should be. All of a sudden he'd found himself in a weak 'womans' body. His father had just been lucky at that stage that his son didn't know any of the ki based attacks he'd learned in later months and years, else she was pretty sure the valley of Jusenkyo along with every living soul within it would have ceased to exist that day.

From there the betrayals just came thicker and faster.

"Hi, I'm Akane. Do you want to be friends?"

"Aiyah! You no trust Xian Pu?"

"So Son in law, if you want this cure you'll have to…." The instances where this line were used over the years were too numerous to count, and each time he'd find it was another insidious trick and that the cure was temporary, or past its expiry date or no longer functioning or just plain never functioned in the first place.

His father never let up from the day they arrived at the Tendo dojo. Always blaming his son for his own failings or palming off the blame for things he'd done onto his hapless child so Ranma would take the punishment while claiming that his son had no honour.

Soun Tendo had been no better, forcing together Akane and Ranma against their wills and then asking where Ranma's honour was for not immediately doing the 'Right thing'.

Nabiki was lucky on two counts, the first being that Kyu was currently sealed and the other being that she wasn't a trans-dimensional being who could phase between realities. In a way she was the worst for outright abusing Ranma, simply for the fact she got a vicious thrill so intense you could almost call it a sexual frisson, from beating such an otherwise powerful martial artist every-time he fell for one of her schemes.

The icing on the cake came from his last bastion of hope, his very own mother. To agree to the validity of a suicide pact between a middle aged man and a five year old child showed that she was deranged beyond redemption. It was the only explanation for her behaviour, every time he did something she disapproved of, out came that double damned contract that she said he had already fulfilled.

All in all things couldn't have been much worse from Kyu's perspective. It was a Kitsune thing, to push peoples buttons, but it seemed that she'd pushed the big red button with flashing neon signs saying 'Do not press! Unless you wish the end of everything!' She'd done that without even knowing she'd done it, was she good or what? The evil smirk died a quick death when she remembered just what the repercussions of her action were

Another of her problems was that he didn't fully understand the situation. Certainly they were bound, or rather she was, but she couldn't help it. It'd been a very long time since a male of any description had intrigued her as much as he had and he was only an untried boy at this stage. She wasn't expecting anything from him at this stage other than a 'friend with benefits' kind of relationship, certainly wasn't suggesting that he declare his undying love for her.

And now? Well even the pride of a Youkai-Hime meant nothing when held up to the unwitting pain she'd caused someone who was 'interesting' to her. Even in the depths of her mind she wasn't ready to admit where her feelings were going but she should have been able to figure it out when she put her own sense of worth aside for that of the person she'd wronged.

'Ranma? Please, talk to me?' she even allowed the note of pleading that entered her voice, she had to get through to him.

"**No,**" and then nothing more, her shoulders slumped, it seemed she had only one other course of action.

'I'm sorry, I…' She winced as she felt the connection between the two of them shut down emphatically. Since he was the jailor there was nothing she could do about it either. He would talk to her when he was ready and not before, the problem with that was that if they didn't resolve things quickly then who knew how badly the anger and sense of betrayal could rankle within him?

Over the next few hours with no sign of her host relenting she grew a little apathetic at the situation as she knelt on the ground waiting. The concerned Nekomata sidled up to her and nudged her shoulder gently with its nose and was startled when the petite woman caught its massive head in a crushing hug as she failed to acknowledge the tears streaming down her face. A while later her hold relaxed as she sighed and gave in to her emotional exhaustion.

/ Next day – real time \

Kyu might have been resolved to wait for Ranma to speak but that didn't mean she had to be patient about it. She did however watch as he unrolled a scroll that had been delivered to him the night before entitled 'Kage Bunshin'. It was an eminently useful technique, one that she had already mastered, well not that particular one but her 'Kitsune style Bunshin' were similar enough that she understood the pluses of using them, and why it was the perfect technique for Ranma to learn since his chakra reserves were so large, when he chose to use chakra that is.

She watched with a sense of pride as he worked his way up to creating his first full bunshin, he'd spent the first hour with the scroll making sure he had the mind-seals correct, then working progressively more and more chakra into the technique until the clones stopped looking sickly and looked like mirror images of himself. Those weak clones were almost as useful as a standard bunshin since they couldn't take a hit, which also worked conversely as they couldn't actually hit anything without dispersing their chakra matrix either. No the only real use he had for such as they was as scouts or as information gatherers, not just in the spying sense but in the sense that anything they read, saw, heard, touched, smelled or tasted was transmitted back to him the moment they dispersed.

Thinking that a little success might perk his mood up, she'd hoped in vain that he would break the silence and speak to her again. She waited nervously for him to do so until she felt him go to sleep that night and still he didn't come to her.

The next day he picked up where he'd started the day before by thinking about the scroll and the additions and suggestions the Hokage had made in the end-notes. The fact that he would remember what his clones learned would be invaluable to him as it would cut the actual time he'd have to spend working on something he considered really boring. She could tell that he was getting excited by the possibilities

The day before he'd spent getting the clone technique to work with the least chakra, after that he wanted to see just how much power he could give one and how much more durable that made it. As the morning disappeared he found that he could give the clone nearly half of his chakra before it became unstable and dissolved but that was alright since it was strong enough to take on Ryoga and Mu Tse at the same time. The other thing that made it so good was that he could keep feeding chakra into it to keep it topped up while it used all the techniques he knew since his reserves filled so quickly.

/ Inside the seal \

The next day came and he awoke to bright sunshine and a slightly uneasy feeling coming from inside him. He chose not to acknowledge it, and he certainly wouldn't break down and talk to her. Feeling his resolve the Kitsune found she'd passed through her apathy and was now thoroughly in the land of frustration which is not a good place to have a nine tailed Kitsune.

"Pig headed male!" she yelled. The Nekomata sidled away from the emotionally unstable female since he couldn't tell if she was talking about him or their mutual host, and he certainly wasn't willing to take a chance, she was bigger and stronger than he could hope to be for the next ten thousand years and she'd always be that far ahead of him.

If Ranma had known more about Kitsune he would have gotten back in contact with her quickly but as it was he had no idea that the demon fox wouldn't just get angry, she'd get even instead. Though, with his vast experience of temperamental women he just should have known better than that.

She waited until Ranma was focusing his chakra to show the technique to the Hokage.

/ Outside the seal \

Ranma knew he had the skill to call up a clone that had roughly half the power he did, and as such it could take more damage than the standard Kage bunshin, in fact it could take enough damage that he could make the enemy believe the clone was the real version and that he was the clone. That would of course mean that he would be discounted and would be free to attack any which way he wanted as everyone knew that clones were no where near as powerful as the original.

Bursting into the Hokage's office he purposely taunted the ANBU team, "Hey old man, I got this thing working now so you'd better show me the other part you promised me." Watching carefully he waited for some response from the masked ninja who protected the Hokage from danger but it seemed that they'd learned their lesson or at least been told that to attack him wouldn't be a good idea.

"Is that so? Well maybe you'd better show me," Sarutobi rose from behind his desk, rather thankful to have a valid excuse to leave the paperwork behind for once. "So how many clones can you create?"

"Um, I dunno, I didn't try for lots of them."

"Hmm, maybe we should take this to one of the training grounds then so that we don't startle anyone if a lot of you appear in one place?"

"Sounds good to me, I'll race ya!" Sarutobi was many things, but one thing he wasn't was stupid, he could tell that something was occupying Ranma's attention and he didn't think it was the Kage Bunshin technique. He decided that wouldn't pry at this time. If however whatever was on his mind began to interfere with his education then he'd feel required to stick an oar in.

"Well I don't know if that would be fair Ranma, after all you're a young man while I'm old. I suppose if you wish though we could race, the finish line is the cabin you stayed in during your shen training. Understood?" Ranma nodded eagerly, "Okay, on my mark, get set, go!" with that the man made a single hand-seal and vanished, fifteen minutes later when Ranma finally made it to the cabin he found the Hokage reclining in the deck chair on the cabins veranda puffing reflectively on his pipe. As Ranma skidded to a halt he pointed at the Hokage in outrage.

"Oi old man! You cheated!"

"I did no such thing Ranma, I'm a ninja. It was a simple technique that many ninja know and I was able to take advantage of. Now that I've won this little race what's my prize?"

"Uh……"

"Oh don't worry about it now, I'm sure I'll think of something appropriate. Maybe a free C rank mission, nothing too strenuous I assure you. Now on to the important issue, let me see your Kage Bunshin."

"Er, sure, Sarutobi." Ranma moulded the required chakra and produced an exact replica of himself."

"That's good, but I was thinking of having a larger quantity of low powered Bunshin than having one. Do you know how little chakra it takes you to create one bunshin?"

"Yeah, first thing I thought of," Ranma said proudly.

"Ah, good, now keep that amount in mind as you pull out as much chakra as you can to make as many bunshin with that much chakra as you can." Sarutobi was expecting many things but what he got wasn't even close.

Ranma closed his eyes and concentrated on pulling up all the chakra he had and just as he was pulling it out to create the bunshin…..

/ Kyu's clearing \

She'd decided early on that she didn't like to be ignored, and that it wasn't healthy for him to do so. They needed to talk and she had very few options open to her. In fact there was only one way in which she could make her displeasure felt.

/ Training ground 18 \

Ranma pulled on his chakra reserve and was swamped with a sudden deluge of chakra that he wasn't expecting. It had many effects on him that he wasn't prepared for, such as the fact that the neat several hundred bunshin he was planning on suddenly multiplied by a factor of ten. The clearing was suddenly full of Ranma clones, the ground was covered to the point that no one could move. The trees around them had bunshin clinging to the branches and each other so that they wouldn't fall and still there were more until there was a sudden downpour of Ranma's on the clearing, in a fall un-forecasted by the department of meteorology. Kami, he hated rain even if it was himself.

Just before the wave of bodies crushed them Ranma managed to dispel them and was overwhelmed by the panicked experiences of nearly six thousand bunshin. When the village elder looked down it was to see the body of Ranma unconscious once again.

"Hmm, I think I should stop asking for demonstrations of his techniques before he gets hurt for real." Just to make sure he slid Ranma's body into the recovery position and then settled in to wait for Ranma to regain consciousness from the case of bunshin shock. Relaxing with his back against a tree the Hokage pulled out volume three of his students series with a perverted little giggle, it wasn't often he had a chance to read uninterrupted, at least not during daylight hours.

/ Kyu's clearing \

Ranma hit the barrier seal in a flat trajectory, travelling as a barely visible blur as he began to fly across the clearing. That was alright though as his personal Nekomata decided that the unidentified flying object would make a great play thing. Pouncing on him and pinning him to the ground with several tonnes of sinewy muscle and bone.

"Owfffffffff! Gerroff you great big fuzzball!" Ranma managed to wheeze as the weight slowly compressed the air from his lungs, then let out another oomph of relief as the big cat got the idea that its new pounce toy didn't like the game at all. When Ranma finally staggered upright the Nekomata finally caught sight of his mistress's mate and winced at whatever punishment it'd be due for trying to hurt him.

Ranma watched a little stunned as the large cat rolled onto its back submissively, wondering just what was going on.

"Don't you dare hurt it!"

He whirled on the approaching voice to watch the Kitsune that had taken residence in his head stomping towards him.

"Eh? I wasn't gonna do nuthin' to the cat, except maybe thank it," Ranma folded his arms across his chest.

"Thank it for what?" she asked suspiciously.

"At the speed I was travelling I would have been in amongst those trees over there in another second and I didn't fancy having a tree 'break' my fall," of course having the cat do it instead had nearly broken several ribs and his spine, but he couldn't blame the kitten for doing what came naturally. Reaching over he ran his fingers through the cats fur to scratch its chin which elicited an undignified squeak of surprise before the Nekomata succumbed to Ranma's ministrations and began to purr. Like the cat, the purr was bigger than life, sounding more like an idling diesel truck being amplified through a bass speaker. It literally caused the air in his lungs to pulsate as it shook his bones. The sound had one benefit as far as Ranma was concerned, he couldn't hear whatever it was Kyu was saying to him at the moment.

Cupping a hand to his ear to imply he couldn't hear her he yelled out, "What? I can't hear you!" Almost giving him self away with a smirk when she frowned at him in frustration while yelling something else.

"What? Still can't hear you, you'll have to speak up!" Two seconds later Ranma was looking up at the full fox form of the Kitsune and had to admit it was really impressive from this perspective.

"I said, 'What the hell's your problem?" The wall of sound washed over Ranma almost knocking him off his feet and set his ears to ringing. It had another side effect, the Nekomata stopped purring as it peered nervously up at its furious mistress.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? Messin' with my chakra like that, ya could have hurt me!" He really didn't need to yell any longer since Kyu had returned to her human form but he was finding it to be great stress relief.

"Hah! As if! Your skull's too thick to be hurt by anything that paltry." The pair were almost nose to nose as their tempers flared even further.

"You didn't answer the question. Why'd ya go an mess with my chakra like that?"

"You wouldn't talk to me," Kyu stomped her foot, unfortunately for Ranma his happened to be under it.

"You……You, crazy bitch…" 'Slap'.

"I've told you before, I'm a vixen!"

"Bitch!" he yelled.

"Vixen!"

"Bitch!" getting even louder as he put some chi into his voice.

"Vixen!"

"I ain't referrin' to your species, I'm talking about your attitude. I wouldn't talk to you! So you try an kill me? Did it ever occur to ya I wanted to be alone for a while?" The tan on his face seemed to recede as his temper flared.

"But we needed to talk," Kyu switched back to a normal mode of speech, almost conversational, and without even thinking Ranma followed.

"What about? You said and did everything already."

"Well you could have waited for all the information, instead of going off in a hissy fit. Besides it's not a good idea to leave an argument unfinished, it could fester in our minds and make things worse than they need to be. Oh come on, don't you like me anymore?" Kyu tried the puppy dog pout and found that it didn't work on Ranma since it had been used on him so many times, hell, he'd even used it himself when he really needed to get his way.

"So you were gonna tell me about how we get out of this seal?" he asked sarcastically.

"Well no, actually there's no way out. This seal is active until one of us dies," she watched as a calculating expression flashed over his features, "and no, it doesn't work that way. The only way for it to work like that is if you really actually die until your brain dies too. You wouldn't be able to be revived and even if you could I'd be dead with no chance of being revived. Anyway it'd be a total waste of time since you're not bound by the seal."

"Huh? Run that by me again," he frowned as he tried to puzzle through what she'd said.

"I'm a demon right?"

"Well yeah, I think we got that covered."

"And you'd assume that my chosen mate would be a demon right?"

"Um, well I suppose," he wasn't too sure on that one since she'd told him that they were mates.

"Well for a demon to put its seal on me I have to submit to that seal. Many demons have wanted to put their seal where yours is but most of them are dead as they couldn't subdue me," she waited for a moment, "By allowing you to put your seal on me it's an admission to my realm that you are stronger than me. Okay so far?"

"Hn," still absorbing what she'd said he grunted out acceptance.

"Now if I'd put my seal on you, then you and the Nekomata would have had to battle to see who was the stronger and thus the leader of my subordinates. One thing I didn't get to mention at the time was that you aren't beholden to a single mate, with my admission that you're stronger than me I also told the world that the choices are yours. If you wished to take another mate I would have no say in the matter, of course I'd be 'First wife' and would have some control over the 'Second wife', unless she challenged me and won, but essentially we'd both have to follow your lead. That would go for any other wives you chose."

"Hold up, what about that challenge thing? What would'a happened if the cat hadda won?"

"Well that would have proved it was dominant, to be honest you'd likely be trapped in here with me while the Nekomata took over your body. You can relax though, as before he can challenge you he has to go through me, and we all know that isn't likely." She smiled warmly towards the kitten as it sat and watched the conversation.

"Okay, so, you said I'm the dominant person in here. What do I 'have' to do? And I want you to be honest with me. I don't want any bullshit, or to find out you only told me half truths, or worse just didn't tell me something important."

He hadn't left her much option with that order, and she knew that she didn't want him to know certain things, but he'd made it an order and she was compelled to obey.

"You don't have to do a thing if you don't want to. All the onus of the seal is placed on the recipient. Like I told you before there's a way to dissolve the seal, but it requires the death of one of us. In the demon realms it is quite common for the dominant mate to kill unwanted mates, or mates who are bearing unwanted or undesirable litters of children," Kyu waited for him to assimilate the information and wasn't disappointed when a minute later he burst out.

"No way, I swore I'd never kill someone again unless it was absolutely necessary," after processing that much of her information his mind turned to the rest of what she'd told him. "Uhm, kids? Is that even a possibility?" Kyu sighed in relief on both counts. She knew him as well as anyone could know another person through winnowing through his memories, but there was always a possibility that she could have read him wrong. On the second count even asking if children were a possibility meant that somewhere in his mind there was a chance that their relationship could get that far. It'd probably be a long hard slog to get their relationship to that point but she could live with that as long as the chance remained.

"Children? Yes, it is possible," she smiled softly, she'd doubted she'd ever have any of her own since she had never met anyone who interested her before, "They would be Hanyou, half demon and half human. Normally such a child would be considered weak by my kind, a plaything to command or torture at will, but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be the case for ours. For a human you're powerful and what's more important you're well trained. Then there's the fact, and I'm not boasting here, but I'm the most powerful member of both my clan, and the Kitsune tribes overall. Any child of ours would be doubly blessed."

"Er, that's not what I meant…." Ranma tried not to stammer as she so plainly admitted that she had given thought to having his child, or children as she'd put it. "I was talking about," he gestured around at the clearing.

"Oh, well I don't think it'd be a problem. If it was though, and we couldn't have children in here then I'd have to say all the practice I'd insist on would hardly consider it a waste," she smirked as Ranma's face turned the same shade as his silk shirt at her blunt statement. "Of course you could just release the seal.." she trailed off.

"But…"

"It's not as if it's relevant anymore, I'm not beholden to follow the pact to destroy Konoha. Now I am geas bound to follow any promise that you make. So be careful what promises you make Ranma since if I'm able I'd make sure they are kept."

"Um, okay," he scratched the back of his head nervously. The situation just kept getting more complex the longer he had to deal with her. Feeling that he was wasting time he looked at her and asked, "So just what happened to me when those clones went poof? It's not like I chose to come in here," he frowned a little at the reminder.

"That is what's called Bunshin shock, it's caused by dispersing too many bunshin in one go. If you'd only dispersed the ones that were going to impact you then I doubt you'd be here now, in fact you weren't in any kind of danger to start with since they were so weak they would have dispersed the moment they impacted you. You saw how much damage it did to get rid of several thousand clones in one hit?"

"Yeah."

"Well think about the fact that they only had a few moments of memory to give you when they dispersed. If they'd been doing something for several hours when you got rid of them like that I hate to think what it would have done to you. For your own safety I'd recommend you disperse no more than thirty clones at one time, probably even less would be better and keep the groups several hours apart. Now I suppose you'd better go and talk to the Hokage, you've been out for nearly fifteen minutes now and he might start to worry."

"Maybe you're right," he sighed, 'Why's everything got to be so hard?'

"Just don't shut me out this time, huh? I don't handle being ignored too well."

"Tell me about it," he muttered under his breath.

"Did you say something Ranma?"

"Who me? No, not a thing."

"Oh, okay. So I'll be seeing you?"

"Sure," he gave a little wave as he headed towards the seal. There was even a spring in his step that'd been missing for a couple of days. Kyu on the other hand was smiling outright, they hadn't dealt with all their problems but they'd taken a few steps. She'd have to work on his fear of intimacy though, she wouldn't have a mate who was afraid to touch her in case he was attacked by another rabid female. Not that he didn't have a lot of experience with that kind of woman.

They were just lucky she wasn't one of the inter-dimensional travellers, or they'd be dealing with one very pissed Kitsune. Sighing slightly she looked about the clearing and catching a flicker of grey amongst the trees she recalled something that she'd been thinking of before she'd messed things up with Ranma.

"Hey you!" The Nekomata stopped shredding the tree it was sharpening its claws on and trotted towards her.

"Mmreeee?" Kyu smiled at the cats attempt to use human speak.

"Yes you, its time I took your training in hand," her smile turned into a grin at the outright shocked look on the Nekomata's face as she led it towards the pond she liked to swim in to begin lessons in the human language and customs. She thought Ranma might get a kick out of being able to understand the cat as well as she could.

/ Training ground 18 \

Sarutobi looked up from the book when he saw movement out of the corner of his eyes, then reluctantly put it away when he noted Ranma rolling into a sitting position while holding his head as if he was afraid that it might explode, which if his memory served him right was exactly what it felt like to suffer that kind of sensory overload.

"How are you feeling?"

"Ungh, like I was kicked in the head by a minotaur," Ranma groaned at a particularly vicious throb, to which the old man chuckled at his joke.

"I'm serious, it feels like that time Tarou kicked me," he knew he didn't have to fill in any of the blanks in that statement since he'd already given the man a pretty complete history when he first arrived, and if the Hokage had forgotten then he would have to ask later on for an explanation.

"Hmmm, if it's any consolation it should pass very quickly. In the meantime would you care to explain what happened?"

"Um, Kyu wanted to talk to me about something, an I didn't want to. She kinda hijacked my chakra. That's why I got more than the couple of hundred clones that I wanted."

"**You should have listened to me then.**"

"Yeah, what ever ya reckon fuzz-ball," Ranma muttered.

"**Exactly, whatever I reckon. You won't ignore me in future will you?**"

"I will if I want to,"

"Do I take it that you're in communication with your guest Ranma?"

"Uh, yeah. Sorry about that, she's a bit of a nag," mentally he was scoring a point on his side of a chalkboard, unfortunately Kyu decided to punch his clone out of existence before he could and added a heap of marks on her side.

"**I am not,**" she huffed.

"That's right, you're a vixen. Don't look nothing like a broke down horse," Sarutobi watched the young man carefully as he listened to one side of the conversation and attempted to construct the other part.

"So Ranma that was a rather impressive amount of Clones, a little impractical but still."

"I couldn't help it, Kyu pushed a bit of her chakra into my system as I was dividing up for several hundred bunshin,"

"**Oh, come off it, it wasn't even one percent of my power.**"

"Less than a percent?" Ranma yelped as his eyes bulged in surprise. He'd known that she was powerful but that was ridiculous. Then he smiled when he thought how many full powered bunshin he could create with Kyu's chakra reserves on hand, he'd been planning to see how many he could make if he gave him self a little time to recharge since they only drained a little to maintain them. He'd kind of figured he could get nine or ten over a twelve hour period and he could maintain them almost indefinitely as long as nothing managed to disperse them, of course with ten there'd be no chance of him recouping the lost chakra as what would normally go towards replenishing his personal reserve would be taken to maintain the clones. Not a bad trade off as far as he was concerned as ten more Ranma's, even at half power would tip the balance of many a battle.

Sarutobi was a little startled to hear that the Kyubi's contribution to the Tajuu Kage Bunshin had only amounted to such a small part of her total power. Actually he was still finding it hard to believe that the Kyubi was in fact a she, it didn't seem possible with all the destruction she'd caused. Damn, that reminded him of another of the villages problems, something he'd have to deal with soon or else there'd be no graduating kunoichi in the years to come, but that was a problem for another time.

"Alright now that I know you are capable of making so many clones I'll tell you the next step," Ranma turned from his inner musings and began to pay attention, "You were probably wondering why I gave you multiple copies of many of the texts you'll be using. Well that's because you'll be making a clone for each of them. Now to maximise your speed in learning, you're not going to make them read the whole text but a single chapter each. When they're all finished you disperse them in order and absorb the information. Once you've gone through it once, I want you to make two clones for each chapter, one will read it aloud while the other will copy what it hears. This is a way of reinforcing the memory when the clones are dispersed. The more ways you remember the information the more likely you are to retain it. Once you have the information to a point where you think you know it I'll hand out a test for you to complete."

"Uh, is all that really necessary old man?"

"Hmmm, well if you were serious about graduating with the next class it is. Then again if you're not willing to put in the effort then I guess not. Like I said Ranma, there's another class coming through in another seven months…" Sarutobi left it dangling there, his point made as he watched Ranma tense up at the unspoken challenge.

/ Hokage's office \

Having returned to his office Sarutobi sighed in resignation at the new pile of paperwork that'd been added to his desk while he was away. Thanks to Ranma though he'd seen a way to get the job done quickly, though his clones protested being put to work like that, it seemed they liked paperwork as much as the original did. It did free him to look over the scrolls he'd separated

/ Timeskip three weeks \

It would have been hard to believe the difference a couple of weeks could make in a persons life. Ranma would be a good example, he often wondered how he'd managed to live without clones. They allowed him to literally be in several hundred places at once. His already impressive learning curve became downright meteoric and he'd gone through the academy material in a week. Finding that there was more information that he could use in there than he'd first thought he'd decided to branch out and raided the library on several occasions, and been kicked out by an irate librarian, which when he thought about it was quite funny since the little old lady hadn't even hesitated to push nearly a hundred clones out the front door with her immortal words ringing in his ears,

"Don't make me disperse you clone-san! And don't think I can't see you over there, stick your tongue out at me again and I'll give you such a kicking!" Coming from a wizened lady who was barely four feet tall and had to be in her eighties he figured he was in more danger from the cane she was waving than the aforementioned 'kicking'. It did serve to clear out some of the clones though as they laughed so hard they disrupted their chakra matrices.

That had been the beginning of the rout as she'd begun swinging that cane in earnest, showing that she might be old but somewhere in her murky past she'd been a kunoichi with considerable ability, she'd dispersed several of his clones before the clones breached the doors like a cresting wave and cascaded down the library steps, the lesson of not messing with Konoha's kunoichi, no matter their age, thoroughly learned.

Since then they'd turned it into a game, he'd try and get as many henge'd clones past her as he could and she'd attempted to root out his clones, so far he thought he was winning the game, she might have a twenty percent hit rate on his clones, but she'd also concussed three civilians so he figured he came out ahead as it was hard to explain to the Hokage why she kept beating her customers senseless.

Apart from the information gathering aspect of his clones another advantage of Kage Bunshin, or at least the powered up version was that for the first time in five years he had a decent sparring partner. 'You're your own worst enemy,' was never truer than when you had to figure out whole new attack plans on the fly and try to beat a clone that had the exact same mental processes as you do, reacts the same and has the same base knowledge. For several weeks he'd had clones sparring one on one, and one on two. He figured another couple of months of that and he'd be able to beat Happosai without having to resort to cheap shots or trickery, not that he'd ever have to face the evil little gnome again. But all of that was for the future after he'd graduated from the Academy, been assigned a team and made a true place for himself in this world.

/ In the meantime \

Sarutobi watched as the several scrolls he'd separated had been unrolled to the pertinent sections. Out of the entire libraries of Konoha he'd discovered exactly seven hundred and thirty-two words that seemed to hint at Akatsuki, he used the term 'hint' because they spoke in generalities that left an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Some of the younger ninja would scoff at his 'feeling' as mere superstition, but over the course of what was a very long life for a ninja he'd learned not to ignore that sense of mild dread, well he wouldn't if he had an interest in living much longer. He could tell there was trouble cresting the horizon and it wouldn't be long before they'd have to be prepared.

Just that morning he'd moved more than a quarter of Konoha's forces into what he thought were strategic positions. Well they might be strategic positions, for good or ill depending on who the aggressor actually was, it'd have to do though until they had better information. That brought him to the final piece of news for the day, something he often used to brighten the days when nothing seemed to go right. The latest academy test scores had been submitted to him. It was just as he thought it would be as well, Ranma had already tested out of the physical sections of the tests but had insisted he go again so that there could be no claims of favouritism. The boy really was too honourable for his own good, ah well he'd learn the reality of being ninja soon enough. Surutobi's only wish was he wouldn't be broken by the experience.

/ Omake – for those who really want \

/ Naruto in this right now \

Ranma blinked at the accusing stares of his team-mates, but he couldn't think what he'd done wrong this time.

"What?"

"How could you?" Akiko asked with a teary voice.

"How could I what?" Ranma asked, genuinely confused.

"Use him like that man, that was cold," Youji said as he regarded the newest member of his team.

"But I…But they….It's their fault!" he pointed in a random direction.

"Who? There ain't no one else here." Akiko could feel her anger rise as he tried to pass the buck.

"Them!" pointing at the fourth wall, "They insisted the writer had to use the kid, so he did!" Ranma huffed indignantly. He knew the Namikaze kid had access to all kinds of jutsu scrolls and fantastic techniques so it hadn't been that much of a stretch in his mind, even if the kid couldn't actually use them yet. That excuse had always worked for Pops!

/ flashback \

Things were looking bad, they were outnumbered massively, and while Ranma could look after himself he wasn't up to the task of looking out for his team-mates at the same time. Sure he was the best and he could deal with any five or six of these jounin, they really weren't anything special, but what they lacked in skill they made up in numbers with odds of at least ten to one if he could dismiss all of the assorted clones. If things went on the way they had for the last hour they'd be worn into exhaustion.

Akiko had already taken several small wounds and Youji was being pressed back into an ambush even as he watched. It was time to pull out the big guns before someone on his side got a bad case of dead.

Pulling out a seal scroll he smirked at the enemy ninja who were closing on him, which slowed them down as they didn't think he really had anything to smirk about but it had them worried nonetheless. Better to be on the defensive until they'd defused whatever he was planning to pull than to run into an attack they wouldn't be able to deal with.

Slicing his thumb on an exposed blade he applied his blood to the seal and watched as the ultimate weapon appeared in the palm of his hand.

"Ultimate Battle Stopper!" he roared out over the general hubbub of battle, and wasn't surprised when everyone turned to him to see the jutsu he was claiming would stop this massacre. After all what ninja didn't love a big flashy jutsu that could stop a battle like this. Drawing back his hand he noted that several nearby ninja paled.

"You wouldn't…." one said.

"You couldn't…." another added.

"Oh yes I can!" and with that he launched his most secret weapon.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaahahaahahhhh!" came a terrified scream as the battle field erupted into utter chaos, some trying to escape, others standing transfixed by the oncoming blur. That noise, oh god! Several of the older ninja made a panicked attempt to intercept the weapon before it was able to strike the ground or some other solid object. Without fail all eyes were glued to the projectile as it flew, all except for the person who initiated the attack. He was busily evening the odds by killing the ninja too stunned to take note of his approach.

Finally Akiko reached out and intercepted the wailing infant while giving Ranma a death glare. "There, there Naruto, everything's going to be alright. And I'm gonna kick that insane bastards ass for this." She cuddled the three month old infant to her breast trying to calm him down a little.

Out on the battlefield Ranma was mopping up the last of the enemy forces until one lone jounin was left. He stood defiantly as Ranma approached him.

"Any last words?" Ranma asked coldly these Cloud bastards had threatened his team and no one got away with that. He held no fear for himself but these scum had gotten closer than any other enemy ninja since the start of the full fledged war.

"Yeah, I got to hand it to you. I always thought you Leaf nin were wusses and tree-huggers, but now I've got to admit you're all insane. If I could I'd inform the Raikage so that he could call off this war before he gets us all killed." The man had started off with a firm voice but as he finished there was a distinct tone of hysteria in there as well.

Ranma thought about that idea for a moment before coming to a conclusion, "Alright, you're free to go. Just make sure you tell him what happens when they cross us." Without watching the enemy depart he turned to his team to the coldest glares he could ever remember receiving. It didn't stop him from approaching Akiko with a seal in hand to reclaim his weapon though.

"What?" as Akiko cuddled the child even tighter to her chest.

/ end flashback \

"Well I've got to admit. He was right about one thing," Youji admitted in grudging admiration.

Akiko looked at the other male on her team in stunned disbelief, "What the hell are you talking about?" she yelled at him.

"Well he was right, that was an extremely effective distraction. I'll have to talk to the Hokage and see about making them standard issue for teams outside of Konoha."

"Are you insane?!!!!" Akiko screamed.

"Oh come off it Akiko, like they say, 'no harm, no foul,' right?"

/ Eighteen years later \

The doctor sighed as another nervous young person walked into the room, he'd seen so many youths like this over the years since he'd become a medic for the village.

"How can I help you?" he stood with a welcoming smile as he ushered the person to a comfortable chair.

"Doc, I just can't take it anymore," the youth exclaimed.

"Hmm, please relax and take a deep breath. Hold it….Now release it. There now that you're a little calmer would you like to go on? What can't you take anymore?" Nodding to himself the doctor vowed to add another Ryo to the jar if he'd guessed correctly.

"I, I, why. I mean it's not like I'm a ninja or anything. I've never done it before so, so why do I fear flying?"

The doctor sighed as his patient left an hour later as he added another file to a massive stack labelled 'Fear of Flying' that was leaning precariously against the back wall of his office.

As the youth closed the door the last thing he heard was the soft clink of a coin being deposited in a nearly full jar.

/ End Omake \

/ To be continued \

A/N:- Yes I'm alive, as the readers of 'Who's a Pokemon Master found out a short time ago. I'm just sorry that people will probably need to reread my work before they get to this part, all I can do is hope you enjoy it still. I handled the make up of Kyu and Ranma in a light manner for the simple reason that Ranma is a fairly forgiving kind of person. Let's face it if he wasn't he'd have levelled half of Nerima in his attempts to get even with certain individuals. Hopefully I handled the thing in a credible Ranmaesque manner and I don't get flamed too badly for it.

Please review.

Enjoy your Christmas and New Years


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